Album – Stay Awhile – Paula Toledo

Posted by admin on March 11th, 2007

When I find a female vocalist I like, one of 3 things usually happens. I wallow in the mood that’s set; I appreciate the vocal imagery; or I just totally get seduced by the vocals. Those of course are my primary reaction options, but of course they are usually backed up by one of many secondary reactions. So three guesses where Paula falls in that primary reactions. Yes, seduction it is, but this is by no means a syrupy, sickly sweet collections of songs. There’s certainly a number of harder edge songs, but even then Paula’s voice shines through. It’s not just her tone, it’s also her phrasing and annunciation, which is just great.

The album opens with “Pride”, one of the rockier numbers, which reminds me of a combination of Sixpence None The Richer and the Cardigans. It also has an almost Euro feel to it. “Joan” is a slower number, which with it’s mellow guitar, allows Paula’s voice to really shine. It reminds me a bit of Martika’s “Love Thy Will Be Done”, especially in the vocal harmonies. “If You Leave Me in a Hurry” and “Passport” are wonderfully mellow tracks, that again showcase Paula’s voice. Don’t get me wrong, the music is a perfect compliment, but it’s really hard to compete with a voice like this.

That’s not to say this album is without it’s flaws. “Tell me a Lie” is a faster paced track, which does little for me. As with many tracks on great albums, it’s not that’s it’s a particularly bad track, it just seems somewhat misplaced. I’m also not overly enamoured with the title track, but that seems to be a running theme with many of the albums I’ve been reviewing lately, so could just be me.

The album winds down nicely with “Fly Away” which is probably my personal favorite on the album. “Left to Stain” has some interesting vocal qualities that remind me very much of a modern day Mary Hopkins. The final track “Atmosphere” is one of those tracks that you feel is going to end like a cliff hanger, but instead it elegantly winds down.

Conclusion : A wonderful, well rounded album, from an outstanding female vocalist, who I am looking forward to hearing more from.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>