Though her main instrument is acoustic guitar, Brisbane singer-songwriter Eleanor Angel isn’t your typical folk troubadour. Instead, she surrounds her delicate songs with the comforting sounds of restful piano and discreet strings which, when added to her airy rise-and-fall vocals, can appear quite lulling in tone. She has had university training in classical voice and it shows in both her delicate flutter and the more soaring flights of fancy she embarks on with this debut album. Two years in the making, it could be described as genteel folk with a post-classical sheen aiming for a certain restrained elegance. Angel cites influences as diverse as Joni Mitchell and John Coltrane, Jeff Buckley and Tom Jobim, and certain aspects of those performers can be gleaned from both her sweetened delivery and the sedate instrumental backing. More immediately, though, she reminds me in parts of another Brisbane vocal innovator, George’s Katie Noonan when she steps out of the pop field. Angel brings all these aspects together in tracks like Colour Of Filled Silence and Higher, a cultured blend of folk, classical, jazz and the more refined side of pop. If confidence counts for anything, Eleanor Angel is prepared to take off.

BILL HOLDSWORTH

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