Moira Smiley - The Rhizome Project (2024)

Not your average Americana-folk-rock roots effort but it’s compelling & almost as if a gospel group wanted to brighten up old Appalachian traditional folk tunes with spirituality & a touch of acapella magic. “Go Dig My Grave,” has a vocal tint found on Sweet Honey In the Rock, with some mystical instrumentation by Dead Can Dance. It’s decorous with the soulful resonance of The Staples Singers circa mid-‘70s. But this song sounds about as vintage as dirt itself.

This is an intriguing introduction to an artist stretching the boundaries of music that was never intended to be commercial. Ms. Smiley irons out the wrinkles in these melodies & makes the sounds go from dark colors to pastel hues. The 11 meticulously played folk songs with string quartet The Rhizome Project was produced by Vermont’s Moira Smiley with David Weber.

Moods are created & the atmospheric effects are well-balanced. They never veer over the boundaries of pretentiousness. This isn’t progressive rock, but if that genre had a grandma this would be it. Moira maintains a rural feel in songs like “My Son, David,” which even breathes a Medieval/Amazing Blondell-style performance. Moira’s vocals aren’t as earthy as Enya or singers such as that. She has a liberated sound, no mist & clouds but an inner voice.

The arithmetic of her melodies adds up to what constitutes a significant shift from commerciality & mainstream while not ignoring its appeal through creative vocalizing & percussive additives. Her music has an illuminating invocation. The background voices are equally creative since they’re not always repeating words but using bold strokes of sound from a benevolent human voice.

There are light touches of church choir & chamber music yet, Moira substitutes the traditional rural folky elements of Fairport Convention & Pentangle to approach what Curved Air & Magna Carta created in the early 70s. The vocals teamed with the magic of the haunting strings rather than traditional folk instruments works. Is it for select audiences? Yes. But this is a viable effort. The music breathes. It’s not nightclub stuff. It’s meditative. Ms. Smiley certainly mines a vein of music few dabble with. Something we need in this volatile era.