'Live Sampler' review from UK

If you have an interest in acoustic music I recommend a visit to FolkWords website, run by Tim Carroll. Tim's writing a book about folk music - what it is, what it's becoming and what it means to those who love it. I found him through FolkWords on MySpace only yesterday and it makes interesting reading.

Tim also writes reviews of current releases and the following arrived at my online office (MySpace) overnight........ I nearly choked on my coffee this morning!


'Debra Manskey - a voice with depth, range and power'

Just occasionally you hear a voice that remains with you forever, no matter the singer moves on or the band implodes – the voice remains. There are of course many individual voices and interpreting distinction is down to the listener. Voices that remain riveted to my memory are Roger Chapman (Family), with his tremulous vibrato, Peter Hammill (Van der Graaf Generator) and his distinctive vocal acrobatics and Tim Goulding (Dr Strangely Strange) master of the weird folk song.

Now I've another voice to add to my list, Debra Manskey, (sometime lead singer with Australian folk rockers, the Wild Pumpkins at Midnight – sadly now defunct).

Debra’s voice is an instrument of depth, range and power that once heard is not forgotten. Often, singers accompany an instrument, and usually that’s a guitar. Debra turns that model on its head and her voice becomes the lead and the guitar drifts into the background – in fact you could dispense with it altogether and just listen to that voice.

There are so many levels in her vocal repertoire. Her range soars from soft and faintly unearthly with leaps and sweeps, through raw, demanding and edgy to driven, aggressive and unsettling as it reaches out to command attention.

Debra has only released a four-track EP 'Live Sampler' but promises a solo studio album, 'The Woman on The Edge of The World' due out in mid-2009. Frankly, that’s not soon enough - this is a talent that you have to hear, and the sooner the better.

Tim Carroll
FolkWords