Universal Hall is the eighth studio album by the Waterboys, released in 2003. It is named after the theatre and performance hall at the Findhorn Foundation, which is pictured on the album cover. The album shows much more influence from folk music than its predecessor, A Rock in the Weary Land. It is the first Waterboys album to feature Steve Wickham since Room to Roam, and therefore the first Waterboys album with all three core members of the post-reunion band.
Mike Scott describes the album as a "record containing one Irish reel and eleven spiritual songs that articulate - to the best of my ability - the vision that drives, challenges, sustains and transforms me"[1]. The cover was designed by art director Steve Manson.
James Christopher Monger, writing for Allmusic, describes "Every Breath Is Yours" as "simplified", and "Nick Drake-cloned"[2]. Scott thanks Liebe Pugh for the song.
"Seek the Light" is unique amongst Waterboys recordings for borrowing heavily from contemporary dance music, specifically electronica. It includes part of the song "Etheric Currents" from the album Cosmic Breath, by May East and Craig Gibsone, both of whom also appear on "Seek the Light". East plays an instrument, the sandawa, which the album's recording notes claims "reproduces the frequency of the speed of light"[3].
"The Dance at the Crossroads" is the "one Irish reel" mentioned by Scott. It is a short instrumental written by Wickham, who performs the song on fiddle. Scott plays both tambron[check spelling] and rotosphere, while Naiff plays piano and flute.
