Lianne La Havas
This would’ve been fantastic to discover during the pandemic, but it’s never too late.
OK, that video seems to be out of commission now (copy still up). Fortunately Айым is back to recording a lil something here and there. Hopefully a full album in the not too distant future?
Sheryl Crow
She may not be the best pure singer, but she’s solid. Also, I respect that she writes her own music and plays almost all her own instruments. Lots of musical talent.
Alison Moyet. I may like many/other female vocalists, but I can say her without hesitation. The og Adele imho.
Forgot to mention this last-year discovery, she went straight to my “gems” category that I have to listen to in careful doses so I don’t get bored of them:
MARO Tiny Desk Concert
The whole album hortelã is just medicine.
Decade-old discovery, possibly pre-2010 I stumbled on a video of “Caledonia” through YouTube’s relateds I think, here’s a tremolo-y adorable voice from Northern England:
Ruth Notman - Caledonia
Ruth Notman & Sam Kelly - Bold Fisherman
The intro to the first video was already moving for me before the singing started. I do like her voice, but either from compression or deliberate production, there’s something affected about her voice as though it’s had slight autotune applied? The second video doesn’t have that thankfully, and I’m sure she doesn’t need any kind of autotune. Just an odd quality in that recording perhaps.
Thanks for sharing!
Here’s a playlist of Saint Saviour’s album “In the Seems”
Actually that’s not the album recording/track list, you might want to check that album out on your preferred streaming service.
I’m never sad when tracks from it come on shuffle.
I also like Caroline Polachek, Weyes Blood, and Emmylou Harris. I agree with Regina Spektor mentioned earlier too!
I’ve seen this in the comments to Caledonia before, but there’s no autotune, it’s her voice, it’s natural tremolo. Since it’s often a product of shyness or stage-fright you’d expect it to die down as she keeps performing for years in front of a public, and this is just what may have happened until the 2019 Bold Fisherman. Caledonia was recorded before autotune became such a grossly overused gimmick, so I think it’s highly unlikey that’s what we’re hearing, it never crossed my mind to assume that.
Here’s another one of my favorites voices from that era: Nicola Hitchcock, better known from performing as part of Mandalay (her tremolo is a permanent feature, sometimes it gets overbearing or seems like she’s forcing it, but never like it’s added artificially):
Mandalay - Beautiful
Mandalay - Insensible
Daaamn, now I gotta go listen to everything she’s ever made (ever in her 25 years of life but still). Though I don’t get why she’s using autotune in this one, she has a perfectly good voice, on top of the great writing.
Abby Holliday - Think Before I Speak
Like, you don’t need no autotune, girl!
Abby Holliday - Butterfly Song
Loving Polachek so far, she’s a force of nature, it’s like non-stop creativity out of her, I haven’t found a song I could stop before listening all the way through.
Weyes Blood sounds a lot like Aimee Mann, maybe a tad sweeter, I’ll definitely be going trough all of her stuff as well.
Thanks for the hints!
The album Songbird by Eva Cassidy will have you melting on your seat. First song, Fields of Gold, seems to just fly at you with vocals.
Ive always preferred female vocalists. I guess im just used to them telling me what to do… and where to go
Growing up in our household, my Mom used to play a lot of French music since she lived in France for a while in the 60’s and loves listening to the music/artists. I discovered Juliette Armanet by happenstance last year and love her vocals. I actually use some of her tracks as benchmarks when listening to new equipment in my audio setup (mainly headphones/IEM’s).
Here are a few faves of mine from some of her most recent songs.
She’s been pretty big but only recently did I get into AURORA, she’s lovely on my Variations.
I could cry with how good it is, Praise Lord Umbasa for getting me into IEMs