Saturday, 28 November 2020

Siobhan Dillon - White Rose (EP)


27 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Stream White Rose here (Spotify)
Read my review of Siobhan's album, One Voice, here (myfizzypop)

Siobhan Dillon is the gift who keeps on giving in 2020. It has not been a terribly tickety-boo year at all, yet we've been blessed with some radiant creative pinnacles (including Ms Dillon's still-sensational album, One Voice). In a perfect world, we'd all be picking up One Voice: The Seasonal Special Edition as we ram our trollies round a packed Waitrose this holiday time, but I'll settle for Siobhan sharing with the world 3 new wintry gems any way I can get my hands on them. Her White Rose EP takes 3 classic songs from Yuletide past and sees Siobhan lovingly deconstruct them and rebuild them so the enchanting end product is viewed through her own artistic kaleidoscope. The exquisite selection show not only Siobhan's eclectic musical tastes but provide a knowing insight into the turbulent times we all are living through. As intricate and beautiful as the most ornate snowflake...
  • Under The Ivy ~ the Kate Bush classic is a haunting ode, just Siobhan and piano lost in the solitude of the poetic lyrics. The feelings of being overwhelmed and needing to escape are ever present in Siobhan's nuanced singing; the elegiac accompaniment buttressing Ms Dillon from the chaos of the world. It is intimate and insightful; sentiments conveyed as eloquently by Kate Bush's words as they are by the intonation of Siobhan's vocal. The listener is invited into the escape with her and, as sure as the gentle swell of instrument opens up a door to the calm, the woes of the world around us are quietened. Ethereal bliss.
  • I Believe In Father Christmas ~ we all need and deserve a little hope this year. Finding it in this glittering music box lullaby may be the most magical thing to happen this festive season. Delicate piano chords and a shimmering of jingling bells wrap around the sincere wish of Siobhan's voice; a crescendo of angelic voices and echoing instrumental at around the 2 minutes mark immerse you into a world far beyond the imagination. It is as vivid and certain as if a glittering cascade of snowflakes ensconced you in the impossible. A grown up Disney anthem so heart felt I could weep.
  • Wintersong ~ "silence gets too hard to handle" are lyrics that are nearly 15 years old but have never felt more poignant and relevant. The Sarah McLachlan standard is a powerful, emotive ballad that is sung with such an aching sense of distance and longing that you can almost reach out and touch it. There are moments of fragility that we can all relate to, yet you get the sense that Siobhan sings to give her the strength to go on rather than it being the answer to her loneliness. She sings for all of us and it is breathtaking to behold. 
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