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'Era’ (LP, Dawn Chorus) Bristol four-piece Rae have found a rich musical seam to mine here. Over a free-jazz backdrop that also throws in echoes of soul, blues and rasping, string-led folk, Leonie Evans’s vocals skitter up and down the register between soulful growl and ingénue tinkle, channelling bits from Björk, Piaf and Holliday. Evans’s bandmates perfectly understand how to complement her mercurial vocals, giving them space and time to breathe: they also switch nervelessly and judiciously from languorous, dying-swan mode to a funky, bass/sax canter. ‘Era’’s irrepressible whimsy – imagine Amélie scatting with Ornette Coleman – may be too much for some ears: choke back a few prejudices, though, and you’ll find yourself wanting more of this. (Steve Wright)
Copyright Steve Wright 2011 |
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