Mary Fahl: A Complex Vocal History and Style

A colossal voice that manages to soar to the heavens, releases a new EP plus talks of an upcoming album!

When October Project hit the mainstream(due partly to being signed to a major label), people were stunned by the voice of the lead singer Mary Fahl. What is it? At that time, listeners thought she sounded like Enya’s sister Moya Brennan(of Clannad) or Annie Lennox. There’s that dark beauty behind the supple voice. Back then, I was still exploring various musical genres and I was not aware of singers like Sandy Denny or Annie Haslam for reference(she’s a huge fan of them). Thanks to Fahl I was able to explore them gradually.

I think what’s amazing about her singing is what she does to such a big voice. It can sound light and airy especially the upper register. But it can also be dark and commanding when she is singing in her lower and comfortable range-the fuller contralto part. With an amazing band to back her up, her singing touched the imagination of many.

Fast forward two decades later, Fahl is on her own. But it is in her solo career that she’s able to experiment so much with the voice. You got to give her high-five for releasing two EPs, Three full-length albums and a live record. Her songs are also in three compilations, two among them are movie soundtracks. There is a full-length album in the talks. But in order for that to come into fruition (with great production along with her band) she has to raise funds. And that’s why Four Songs came into being. According to her website www.maryfahl.com :

FOUR SONGS is a collection of Italian arias beautifully produced by John Lissauer. This limited edition, signed and personalized EP is a fundraiser to help me complete the full album. Each purchase enters you into a drawing to receive a free copy of the fully produced album. * Order 5 copies or more and receive a free Mary Fahl T-shirt. Order 10 copies or more and receive 2 complimentary tickets to a Mary Fahl show near you.

Looking back, I think Mary Fahl is meant to happen. There will always be people like me who will gravitate towards such voice. There is nothing like it. It is hard to describe but her singing touches something in me that’s both mystical and emotional. Perhaps it is because of my unique way of looking at the world that I find her unique art inspiring. Perhaps it is that sensitivity of the soul that longs for something that is like heaven, if heaven is indeed real.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.