:music muse

a friend of mine encountered Dayna Manning on a cd that was included in cereal boxes distributed in canada. she thought the song on the cd showed promise and mentioned Manning to me as an artist worth checking out. i found Volume 1 (also available through resellers on Amazon) and started listening to it. the more i listened to it, the more i liked it.

Volume 1 is a strange album in its mix of many styles (sometimes within the same song). recorded when Manning was only 18 years old, the album shifts between multiple styles that must reflect her major influences (folk, country, pop) while she works to create her own sound. it succeeds, not only as a first album, but as a fascinating work of breadth. while each track many not be everyone’s style, they are all executed and sung well.

folk (And That Was Done)
folk w/hint of country (Half The Man),
country (My Addiction, A Simple Plan, I Want)
folky to modern pop (Under The Hill, Hippy Song, Coincidence?)
pop (My Kind)
female vocals (A Walk On The Moon, The End Of The Game)

read the amg review.

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the song summerfling got enough radio airplay to catch my attention when it came out in 2000. unfortunately, i never quite got around to checking out the album on which it appeared until fairly recently. my mistake. at the time invincible summer was released, i hadn’t heard anything new from k.d. lang in a while and, in particular, hadn’t heard anything that i really liked for even longer. i thought summerfling was a great pop tune. it’s cheerful (very ’summery’), has a nice hook, and includes strong vocals. it sounded a little like a more pop-oriented, upbeat song from Ingénue than anything else.

what i discovered, once i got to hear the whole album, is a full collection of wonderful songs that far eclipse summerfling with stronger melodies, better hooks, and soaring vocals that are even more satifying. even more to my surprise is the fact that, of all the songs on invincible summer, i like many of the other songs much more than summerfling. what a treat!

the opening strains of the consequences of falling immediately tease that k.d. lang is back to doing what she does best: bringing her amazing voice to bear on catchy tunes to deliver great pop music. wonderfully, this is exactly what she offers. the melodies and hooks are back and they paired with fine instrumentation (including strings) and exacting production. the best moments on this cd invoke Ingénue more than any of lang’s previous work.

to be clear: this is not a clone of Ingénue. it is a wonderful dose of dreamy pop, great melodies, and lang’s sublime voice all wrapped in great hooks. it’s a little less serious than Ingénue, and doesn’t quite reach the heights of Save Me or Constant Craving, but it is a wonderful listen and a very satisfying experience.

standout tracks:

• the consequences of falling
• extraordinary thing
• love’s great ocean
• when we collide

read the amg review.

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i was lucky enough to receive a work-in-progress version of the song Upon This Rock on an edition of Real World Notes, a cd sampler subscription. while the subscription has unfortunately been discontinued, some of the cds in the set may still be available from womadshop.com, and each contain hidden jewels.

it turns out that the song that sparked my interest in Jocelyn Pook is very representative of Untold Things, the album on which the final version of Upon This Rock appears. it is a delicate melding of world music voices and meodies using both ancient and modern instrumentation (including the violin, which is Pook’s instrument). her training as a classical composer and violinist shine on this album in the fragile melodies and careful construction of each piece. even more impressive is how well she understands, and is able to use, world music influcences, instrumentation, and vocals to create a deriviative work that is entirely her own.

the cd as a whole is both beautiful and hypnototic, creating a work of intimacy that is more world music fused with classical than rock or even jazz. that is not to say that this music doesn’t include songs with wonderful rhythms (Take off Your Veil, Calls, Cries, and Clamours), just that they are approached from the perspective of world music, not of the more standard genres of rock or jazz. the drumming on this album forms a ‘world beat’ foundation and compliments the other instruments, the human voice being paramount among them. Untold Things also includes wonderful examples of songs built entirely from simple melodies (Saffron, The Last Day), otherworldly voices (Red Song, Upon This Rock), and pure ethereal vocal hooks (Dionysus, Butterfly Song). all in all, it’s a powerful and glorious combination.

standout tracks:

• Dionysus
• Upon This Rock
• Butterfly Song
• Saffron

read the amg review. note that this is one of the few cases where i think the amg ratings got it wrong. in my opinion, Pook’s second album, Untold Things, is far more accomplished, accessible, and transcendent, than her first album. i have not yet heard her latest work.

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you may know Sia (full name Sia Furler) as one of the amazing voices on several songs by Zero 7. in particular, she appears on their wonderful track destiny, which got a fair amount of airplay here in the pacific northwest. it was her voice on that song that prompted me to seek out her solo work. i bought an out of print sampler containing four songs from her second album, Color The Small One, on ebay. i liked all of the songs so much that i immediately bought both of her full length albums.

her first album, Healing Is Difficult, is unfortunately too dominated by electronic instrumentation and funky dance rhythms to demonstrate her beautiful voice. aside from Blow It All Away, which is reasonably effective, her talents are lost in the material and instrumentation. it is fortunate that Henry Binns and Sam Hardakeri, the men behind Zero 7, recognized the talent only hinted at by this album and used so effectively on Zero 7: simple things (2001).

Sia’s second solo album, Colour The Small One, is a different story entirely. it would be difficult for it to be any more different or more effective than her first album. instrumentation is pared down to an almost minimalist approach. gone are the throbbing beats, jerky vocals, and odd overdubs. in their place are simple, quiet instrumentation, subtly building, soaring vocals, and beautiful melodies that posses delicate hooks. these songs are perfectly crafted to not only show off her voice, but to perfectly compliment it to create works that as as engaging as they are beautiful. they are at once catchy and fragil. it is a very powerful combination.

starting ever so slowly with Rewrite, Sia creates a melencholic mood, then just when you think you have it figured out, drops in a pretty hook and repeats the process. it’s the perfect introduction to an album dominated by Sia’s voice and just enough backgound music to create a mood and build the melody. the third track on the album, Breathe Me, is the undisputed masterpiece. building slowly from a haunting piano riff, Sia’s voice rises, unfiltered. complete with the sound of her breath and of her lips parting, it even includes her voice cracking early on. it’s perfect. the background rhythm rises as her voice carries the song onward and the introduction of drums and strings feels completely natural. if i had acquired Color The Small One for this song alone i would be very satisfied. other notable songs incude Don’t Bring Me Down and Numb, which show off Sia’s voice with a beautiful refrains. there are a few tracks that don’t work completely, Sweet Potato and Butterflies, for exmaple, but they are in the minority and are more than displaced by the stronger tracks on the album. highly recommended.

standout tracks:

• Breath Me
• Don’t Bring Me Down
• Numb

read the amg review.

external links: Sia Furler’s web site

see also: Zero 7: simple things (2001)

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i started listening to simple things after falling in love with the soaring vocals on the single destiny. driven by the gorgeous voice of Sia Furler (see below), it is the perfect combination of accomplished low-key instrumentation, married with a beautiful voice, to create a powerful and equally beautiful song. what i discovered was an album that didn’t include another 13 songs like destiny but rather the opposite: i found an album that doesn’t maintain the same sound throughout, is rife with stylistic influences from what some might consider incompatible styles, and that ultimately succeeds because of it’s breadth.

simple things successfully mixes styles including 60’s and 70’s instrumentation (including horns, flute, and and keyboards), electronica, acoustic folk, rock, and even a hint of trip-hop. the amazing thing about the music is how well each song is crafted and how effective it is within it’s genre. among others, songs include interesting and enjoyable instrumentals (give it away, red dust), electronica influenced instrumentals (polaris, out of town), swirling chant driven celebrations (likufanele), and gorgeous vocal driven melodies (destiny, distractions). despite the melding of styles to create such a diverse sound, the album holds together wondefully.

read the amg review.

see also: Sia: Color The Small One (2004)

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