Review | Songlines

Foolin' in Time

Rating: ★★★

View album and artist details

Album and Artist Details

Artist/band:

Cecilia Zabala, Don Davis & Joe Deleault

Label:

Delvad Music

June/2019

Languid and loose, filled with clever arrangements and multilingual lyrics placed just so, this long-gestating passion project comes from a trio of like-minded friends: Argentinian vocalist and composer Cecilia Zabala, playing sparkling kalimba(thumb piano) and seven-string guitar; US-based reedsman Don Davis, wielding bass clarinet and saxes from soprano to baritone; and multi-instrumentalist Joe Deleault on piano, accordion, cajón and tambourine-style pandero. Zabala has been turning heads for a while now with her knack for channelling a range of influences – Argentinian folklore and tango, Brazilian music and jazz – into originals as sensitive and emotional as they are technically impressive.

Aided by the left-field jazz stylings of Davis and Deleault, Zabala revisits dreamy self-penned tracks such as the Astrud Gilberto-esque ‘Vientre’ and ‘Inspirada’, a plaintive but quirky ode to the muse, and makes the most of her collaborators on co-written tracks including the gorgeous ‘Stephonic Tango’, with its breathy lyrics and poignant accordion, and ‘Coming Home’, all long-held notes and tumbling scales. There's a slow and beautiful take on Baden Powell's ‘Año Nuevo’ and, less successfully, a cover of Rufus Wainwright's ‘Vibrate’ that feels a little superfluous. For the most part, however, this is precious, carefully considered stuff, a labour of love that pays off.

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