Laurel MacDonald
Luscinia's Lullaby
© 2005 Improbable Music (777320122926)
CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.
SPECIAL: 10% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
THE #1 'ESSENTIAL ECHOES' CD OF 2005 - ECHOES RADIO (PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL)
tracks
try this
albums you will love
genres you will love
By Location
Recommended if you like ...
notes
Luscinia’s Lullaby is the third full-length CD by internationally acclaimed Canadian singer and composer Laurel MacDonald.
MacDonald has built her recording career on a production style characterized by the use of multiple layers of her voice, with eclectic instrumentation and soundscapes concocted by producer and sound designer Philip Strong. They revel in playing along musical peripheries, and juxtapose disparate elements with ingenuity and beguiling sleight of hand.
MacDonald’s vocals dovetail and spiral in bewitchingly complex layers. By turns she sings with simmering intensity and wistful fragility: here, a spine-tingling invocation; there, a sleepless lullaby. From boyish soprano to husky alto; from yodels to whispers to wails.
A record to defy the tyranny of musical genre-fication, Luscinia’s eludes description as if the act of elusion were itself a game. A torch song rife with playful innuendo is accompanied by slithering slide guitar and liquid violins. A trippy, groove-driven polyphonic chant generates a new wave of mediaeval funkadelia. A gaggle of Venusian doo-wop girls warble and croon their way through a jubilant rhapsody. An aching lament is borne forth on shimmering triangle, vacuum hose spinning through a cloud of delay, and tube drum with undertones verging on the subsonic, conjured to resonate through your body and into your bones.
With Luscinia’s Lullaby Laurel MacDonald and Philip Strong hurl their sonic mirror ball into the stratosphere to create a pulsing, buzzing, soaring vocal fantasia. Perk up your earthling ears.
Reviews
“flipping fantastic... as close to musical bliss as you can get”
- Ian Fairholm, ProgressiveEars
“an electrifying mélange... harmonious, integrated, multi-dimensional”
- Dianne Wells, WholeNote
“stellar... spine-tingling... wide and wonderfully eclectic”
- Jason MacNeil, AllMusic Guide
“stratospheric audio adventures... producer Philip Strong takes her versatile voice and wide-ranging musical curiosity and hits the frappe button”
- Stephen Cooke, The Chronicle Herald
“this spiritual stepchild of Eno and Laurie Anderson has crafted yet another haunting and haunted disc... Laurel MacDonald’s name on this album is synonymous with a complete aural vision”
- Bob Klanac, Scene
“you won’t find a vast philosophical difference between MacDonald’s Song for This Child and Brian Wilson’s Our Prayer from Smile in terms of harmonic complexity, melodic twists, and spiritual depth... Luscinia’s Lullaby weaves its world music influences and MacDonald’s voice into a kind of waking dream.”
- Bob Tarte, The Beat
Biography
Over the course of a fifteen year career Canadian singer and composer Laurel MacDonald has released five CDs: Kiss Closed My Eyes (1995), Stars & Elements (EP, 2000), and Luscinia’s Lullaby (2005), all for Improbable Music; and Chroma (1999) and Wingspan (EP, 1999), both for BMG Classics/RCA. MacDonald’s longtime creative partner Philip Strong produced Kiss Closed My Eyes, Chroma, Stars & Elements and Luscinia’s Lullaby, and on her remix EP Wingspan she collaborated with John Oswald, Bill Laswell, and Transglobal Underground.
MacDonald’s work has appeared in many film and television productions, and has accompanied contemporary dance performances on three continents. In 2003 MacDonald and Strong received a Gemini Award (The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television) for their score for the dance film The Year of the Lion, produced by the Bravo! Television Network and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
reviews
Please log in to review this album.
Charming and elegant
author: Robert KayAn album that truly can unwind the tensions of your day with beautiful and often very distinctive vocal harmonies. Easy listening without the banality... ...a rare find indeed!
Stunning vocal style
author: Colin PinkLaurel's voice is outstanding and well set off by the setting on this CD. Some of the best tracks, such as ysaiophony, combine an early music style of singing with modern dance rhythms. Reminiscent of Jocelyn Pook.
I like it!
author: Robert DrayI have had many hours of pleasure as the sounds of this CD echo through the cottage I call home. I keep hearing things that were missed before, but mostly the album creates a comfortable atmosphere in which to be.
Haunting and relaxing
author: BillThis is a pleasant background sound. If fills the house and haunts the ear. Nice relaxation music, not particularly for parties . . . . except perhaps a party of two . . .
- author: Rachael Dyer
As a member of Canada’s dance community, I was introduced to Ms. MacDonald’s work through her contributions to Moze Mossanen’s films. I was thrilled to learn that some of the music Ms. MacDonald created for these films has now been released to Luscinia’s Lullaby - what a fantastic collection of work. This cd is moving and complexly layered. I highly recommend it’s addition to anyone’s music collection.
A unique & beautiful voice
author: Gary McBrideLuscinia's Lullaby is a beautiful collection of soothing and haunting music. Laurel MacDonald has an extraordinary vocal range, which she uses to great effect to create 10 richly layered tracks. If you are looking for an album that takes you to a relaxing place where you can unwind why not try Luscinia's Lullaby?