Omoo, Emilie Weibel

Sometimes you just luck out. Emilie Weibel got in touch with me a short time ago and said, "I have a recording out and thought you might want to hear it." Well I didn't know her from Adam but there are plenty of people I don't know out there so I said, "Sure! Send it!" She did. I am glad of that.

Her album is called OMOO (Inner Circle Music 041). It's Emilie on vocals, music box, percussion, electronics, keyboard and xylophone. It's all Emilie, accomplished by multi-tracking, and if you are a purist in that way you ought to consider that all recordings are by nature virtual, none of it is actually "live". I do this myself as needed, not to call attention to my music here, just sayin'.

What counts is the quality of the results. Listen to her version of "Footprints", an arrangement she tells us was inspired by Marc Copland. It has intimacy as does all of this music, a beautiful vocal tone (as etc.), and some very cool lyrics and vocal ensemble workings (as etc.)

The emphasis is on her vocals, which have a singularity, a purity, a beauty. But so also the songs, mostly hers, get to you, as do the arrangements.

It gains by overdubbing a singleness of vision. She has a way, a set of feelings and sounds and they come at us here one after the other.

If you like modern yet very lyrical music beyond category, inflected by jazz and anything else that Emilie has assimilated and incorporated, just get this one and listen up. She is OMOO. And that is very much herself!

Recommended, rather strongly in fact!