Different Skies is the second release from 7-woman Durham, NC-based a cappella group Stella, the first being the excellent "Gimme Stella." This is a sumptuous, gorgeous collection of 15 tunes, some of which are lightly accompanied by bass, guitar and even a Moroccan riq on the lovely opening cut, "Before This Time Another Year." These 7 women share a love of good stories, eclectic tastes and music from different cultures. Two originals, "Cave Ranger," which reflects on the sexy possibilities of a date with a cave ranger, and "Teenage Girls.," tells the tragic tale of the death of a beloved teenage friend, are marvelous. Other favorites are the sweetly rhythmic "Be Mine (Little Baby)," "Satellites," "My Babe," "I'll Never Leave You Baby," the bluesy "Blue and Lonesome," the stark anti-war song "No More To The Dance," shape-note tune "Wondrous Love," "Shto Si Goro," a gospel tune from the Georgia Sea Islands, the powerful "Kappee," a Finnish folk tale, the poignant ballad "Teenage Girls" and the wonderful American shape note song, "Long Time Traveller." Since first getting together in 1998 to harmonize favorite tunes with each other, the group took the name Stella in 2000 and began to perform publicly in venues such as the NC Museum of Art, Festival for the Eno, Artsplosure, Light Up Durham and Black Mountain, NC's LEAF Festival. Possibly because of this, their sound as a group has taken a huge leap forward-every cut on "Different Skies" is a richly harmonic delight! |
