This is such a well-made and intriguing club, I think I'll take the plunge and join!
1. What drew you into your current favorite song?
My favorite song is by a little known Indie folk singer, song writer and musician named Joanna Newsom. The song is called Only Skin. The artist has a background in creative writing, and I think it shows in her work, this song is almost like a long, free verse poem. It's almost half and hour in length. The lyrics are something dreamy. Joanna's music is definitely not for everyone, her voice is a little squeaky sometimes and there's a lot of nonlinear narratives in this early period of her work like the Ys and Milk-Eyed-Mender. But I can dig it. I have always enjoyed long songs that tells stories, and have hidden meanings and word play, and like quite a bit of folk rock, alternative and progressive music from the 70s like American Pie, Hallelujah, Bohemian Rhapsody or White Rabbit. I like a lot of music from earlier times, and this song feels like a throwback for me.
2. What song/album releases are you currently anticipating?
This might not be your typical release, but I am looking forward to the Broadway revival of The Secret Garden when the theater world return to normal. There was a lab for it in 2018 with Sierra Boggess, which showed promise, but there's been little information out about what's going to happen with this show. As of 2019 there were still plans for it to the stage, and I hope it comes to fruition in the US in the next few years once things calm down because I have a great passion for musical theatre, and I enjoyed the children's book The Secret Garden that the musical is based on, and in general like the work of author Frances Hodgson Burnett. I have a passion for musical theatre, and the Secret Garden is one of my favorite scores-- it's pretty, and I really enjoy both the Broadway cast album with Mandy Patinkin and Rebecca Luker, as well as the Australian Highlights album with Anthony Warlow, Phillip Quast and Marina Prior.
3. Who are your current Top 3 musical artists and why?
This is tough because I love many genres of music, and quite a few of my favorites are jazz musicians and classical singers and composers that are no longer living, so some artists I thought of naming but rules out because I don't 'current' is the word for them. Here are 3 I like though, in no particular order. Even just keeping this list to contemporary artists it was still really hard to limit to only three, there's a lot of other performers I wanted to name too.
Loreena McKennit-- Her voice is so clear and full-bodied with this lush, silvery color, and it's full of longing. She sounds timeless, and I think the music she sings makes for a very spiritual experience, lots of Celtic music, carols, new age, folk ballads, and takes literary works like poetry from the Romantic era and sets them to music. I also admire singers who are multi-talented and I respect that she is a musician who often accompanies her voice with instruments she plays herself.
Fadia El Hage- Again, I like international music and think her repertoire is interesting. She sings a lot of Byzantine music, Arabian chants, liturgies from the Greek Orthodox Church and the medieval era, and I think her work is very profound. She has this emotive contralto.
Lauryn Hill- It was hearing her cross genres from r&b into a more folk style with Unplugged that got this lady on my short list. She will experiment, and has confronted some painful parts of her personal life through her performances and has some interesting social commentary. I think The Mystery of Inequity is as relevant now as ever to the corruption in our courts, economic system and the theater of politics.
