Concetta Abbate, Falling in Time, Pocket-Sized Songs

Some music does not sit well with categorization. One of those certainly is Concetta Abbate's solo debut CD Falling in Time, Pocket-Sized Songs (Waterbug). It is an album of art songs that could well bear a subtitle "Songs of Innocence and Experience" after William Blake, for there is something of both in her whimsical approach. The arrangements are well wrought, with Concetta's violin working with other strings and other instruments sometimes in quasi-classical ways. The songs are original, her voice enchanting. Explorations "in poetry and soundscapes" is how it is put on the inner sleeve. Well, yes. That.

Yes, it is perhaps too artistic to place under any pop or even singer-songwriter category with the expectations one might place on those slabs of classification. Sure, some have a rock beat, and alternative might apply perfectly well.

In the end one might be reminded of some of the art songs from the era of early Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins, yet it has less of the folk roots than they both had for a time. And Concetta has her own way.

Classification can help people understand what they are likely to get, though some of the categories have less singularity now than perhaps they once had. So forget all that.

This is consistently interesting and original music in song form. And as that it gives you much good to hear and rehear.

Definitely recommended!