They Share a Celtic Spirit, but Don’t Compare the Two
Caroline Lavelle’s career as a solo musician has barely gotten off the ground, but she’s already encountered a bump in the road: Enya. Virtually every review of Lavelle’s debut album, “Spirit,†has drawn a comparison to the Irish priestess of celestial pop.
“Yeah, it’s odd,†says Lavelle, whose particular brand of atmospherics is gathering critical support and airplay on a variety of radio formats, mainly adult alternative and National Public Radio.
“My chords are completely different and I very rarely use backing vocals,†continues Lavelle, who will perform at LunaPark on Monday as part of a brief promotional tour of the United States. “I hate double-tracking my voice--I feel that takes away the power of the single voice. Enya has very much her trademark sound, which I think is naught really to do with me. I don’t get it really.â€
Lavelle’s marketers might be less disenchanted with the Enya link, which could offer a clear trail through the thicket of genres represented by Lavelle’s music. On “Spirit,†she blends traditional Celtic elements, classical string arrangements, electronic ambient and dance and pop touches.
“I’ve got a huge wealth of experience in a lot of different ways,†says Lavelle, 29. “I’ve played Turkish music, Chinese music, Irish music, classical music, jazz, everything. . . . I hate any one thing, and it’s very difficult, because people are asking me how to describe my music. I find that difficult to do.â€
Lavelle began playing cello at 6, but the career that she launched after leaving the Royal College of Music in London wasn’t what her classically oriented family expected. Her first job was playing and writing string arrangements for the gothic rock band Siouxsie & the Banshees. She soon became a hired cello for such pop figures as Peter Gabriel, the Cranberries, the Fall and the Waterboys. She also recorded and toured with the traditional Irish ensemble De Dannan, whose singers Mary Black and Dolores Keane inspired her to become a vocalist.
Her work on “Home of the Whale,†a track by the dance group Massive Attack, caught the attention of William Orbit, one of England’s leading performers and producers of ambient and experimental music. He signed her to his N-Gram label, which is distributed in the United States by Warner-owned Discovery Records, and produced “Spirit†with his distinctive touch.
“It’s a much better start than I could ever have imagined making,†says Lavelle, whose cello is scarce on an album that emphasizes her singing, arranging and songwriting. “We meshed artistically, in that his strengths are not mine. . . . When he does a rhythm track, it’s like a piece of music. You can just listen to it [by itself]. It’s so intricate, it’s like lacework almost.â€
Given the music’s powerful moodiness, Lavelle (whose nonmusical pursuits include astronomy and breeding endangered British butterflies) does finally concede a bond with Enya.
“My music does have a sort of a spiritual quality, kind of a lost soul out in the wilderness vibe sometimes, I suppose.
“I spend an awful lot of time alone, and I probably think a bit too much for my own good. I think and think and think. I’ve always found my spiritual place to be among poetry and music, and I just love the countryside. It overwhelms me with its beauty.
“I moved from London eight or nine years ago, and where I live I have huge skies, like Africa. I live sort of on the top of a hill, and I see all the weather coming in from the sea. . . . There’s something very real about living in all that.â€
* Caroline Lavelle performs Monday at LunaPark, 665 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, 9:45 p.m. $5. (310) 652-0611.
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