NEW ALBUM: Olivia Chaney - Shelter - Printable Version +- Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com) +-- Forum: Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=4) +--- Forum: Alternative (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=11) +--- Thread: NEW ALBUM: Olivia Chaney - Shelter (/showthread.php?tid=19119)

NEW ALBUM: Olivia Chaney - Shelter - Ruby - 15-06-2018 OLIVIA CHANEY ~ Shelter   The one thing that scares me off some folk music (which is what I was expecting this to be) is that it can have a tendency to be awfully earnest and doleful; the first track and the title, in all its beautifully sung simplicity did seem to indicate that this might be how the album would play out. Track two, “Dragonfly” put a slightly different spin on things - these two, for starters sounded like traditional songs that have been reworked and given a new, but tasteful, and fairly restrained lease of life. Things got a bit different after that and simply can't be pegged as folk. I like the way her voice lets go of itself every now and then – as though the sounds are being breathed out of her of their own volition and can, in turned be inhaled by the listener. I know - that’s weird – but that’s how it feels to me. She has a lovely voice – clean, strong and not contrived and I quite like the instruments here too. Welcome respite for me – it’s been a lean couple of weeks – tried listening to all sorts of new stuff that is just so much crap I can’t believe anyone signed them!   Prior to this release, Ms Chaney contributed to The Queen of Hearts, with the Decemberists, as Offa Rex, which I also enjoyed. Listening to “O Solitude” on this new one, I thought it sounded quite baroque – it’s actually a Henry Purcell composition which explains everything – nicely done https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSJCEptma_g … and it IS difficult to categorise her – this is pinned as alternative singer/songwriter but I dunno … very definite underlying folk too (despite my previous comment), although not one hundred percent definitive.   I will go back for another listen – quiet music – there’s an aura of isolation and vulnerability about the album which I think is an essential aspect for the real success of any artist – a little bit of vulnerability endears people - engenders sympatico; at the same time there is also a degree of reassuring self-containment. I like it. RE: NEW ALBUM: Olivia Chaney - Shelter - CRAZY-HORSE - 18-08-2018 I wasn't keen on the song Ruby, but I liked her vocal quality, could hear Kate Bush in places