I have long been a fan of Daria’s incredible vocals and her wonderful music, and here we have a new single ahead of the album which will be released at the end of January. Here she is accompanied by Stu Hanna (fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass) and Jason Emberton (piano, pads, percussion, effects) in a wonderful gentle folk number where her vocals are clearly front and centre. Given the title I initially thought it would be a version of “The Skye Boat Song”, but instead it tells the story of being in Skye with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra as a translator and meeting an elderly lady called Una MacLeod who treated her with kindness. Years later, Daria returned to Skye, and Una was still there and she gave Daria a song Una’s mother used to sing, and this is all included in the lyrics.
Daria’s vocals love space, and the accompaniment is delicate and restrained, providing the nuances and additional beauty to lift them even more. I was somewhat surprised to note that on the front page of Daria’s site there is a quote from me saying, “10/10. Incredible vocals… There is a poignancy with this release which is impossible to miss” and that is as true now as it has ever been. Check out the lovely video which accompanies this as well, and if you have yet to come across the wonderful Daria Kulesh then now is the time.
Rating: 10/10
