CD Review: Moira Smiley & VOCO's 'Laughter Out Of Tears'

Moira Smiley & VOCO
Laughter Out Of Tears
Whim Records

The sensational vocal songs of Moira Smiley & VOCO are steeped in Appalachian, Scandinavian, and European styles that echo similarities with Dala Girls, Varttina, Heidi Talbot, Helene Blum, Fay Hield, Karine Polwart, and similar gals. The album features fifteen songs of audio delight that are mostly original songs, but some are covered from Swedish, Appalachian, Serbian, and Croatian ancestries. A few feature vocals as the lead instrument. The group has an uncanny ability to magically gel together with such a compelling and intriguing vocal repertoire that is never pretentious or egotistical. You will even hear a little Zero 7 and Dala Girls influences on "Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind." The forty-five-minute album is hearty enough; even for the most discriminating vocal connoisseur. Anyone with an interest in female vocal folk music will relish Laughter Out Of Tears. ~ Matthew Forss

CD Review: Dala's 'Best Day'

Dala
Best Day
Campus Music

The Canadian vocal duo, Dala, is not your average group, because they know how to find harmonies and melodies that always seems to captivate listeners everywhere. Their previous release, Everyone Is Someone, contains a more pop-folk-centric prodution, while Best Day capitalizes on that newfound success without incorporating the same pop-folk melodies. In fact, Best Day is more stripped down compared to earlier albums. For example, the repertoire consists mostly of alternative folk or pop elements with light guitar, piano, and lesser contributions from trumpet, banjo, bass, keyboards, drums, strings, and mandolin. At any rate, Dala's vocals are crystalline and infectious as much as any other previous album. The last track, "Too Many Kittens," is a playful composition with several outtakes that make it interesting to say the very least. Dala's Best Day is here for your listening pleasure. ~ Matthew Forss 

CD Review: Canada's Dala 'Everyone Is Someone'

Dala

Everyone Is Someone

Campus Music/Lenz Entertainment

The Ontario-based folk duo, Dala, is taking the charts by storm with their award-winning album, Everyone Is Someone. The contempoary folk group is similar in sound to Shawn Colvin, Susan Aglukark, and Sarah MacLachlan. In fact, "Lonely Girl" is uniquely Dala, but it seems like a slightly stripped-down folk song ("Building A Mystery" comes to mind) in the vein of Sarah MacLachlan. The mix of folk instrumentation and pop tunes contains a weighty amount of instruments, including keyboards, mandolin, guitar, piano, drums, bass, harp, cello, banjo, strings, cow bell, hand claps, and something called icicle keyboards. The songs are tender, sweet, and catchy. The English-lyric songs describe love, happiness, Northern culture, and poignant stories backed by superb vocal harmonies and folksy instrumentation with a flair for neo-folk leanings on "Northern Lights," "Younger," and "Levi Blues." Dala is dala-lightful in every sense of the word. ~ Matthew Forss