Top 10 voices I would marry

It is no secret that I have a soft spot for the female voice, especially while singing. There aren’t too many things in the world more beautiful than the female voice.  It is soothing, powerful, sorrowful, meek and thought-provoking all at once.  On more than one occasion I have been quoted saying something along the lines of, ‘I would marry her voice if I could.’

Now I will be the first to say that list blogs are incredibly over played.  But I love to make Top 5 or Top 10 lists when it comes to music.  Maybe I watched this movie one to many times.  I promise I will spare you from the ‘Top 17 things men wish women knew that men didn’t know about what women really know’ list blogs here.  But I just can’t help it when it comes to music.

I like a classically trained voice as much as the next guy. But they all tend to sound the same and you couldn’t pick them out of a line-up if you tried. What makes a voice beautiful (like what makes a person beautiful) is the differences – their personality. So here it is, the Top 10 voices that I would marry, if I could:

10. Leona Naess – I got suckered into a subscription to a music magazine my first year of college because I have issues saying no to salesmen.  I really didn’t get a whole lot out of that subscription–because I don’t really read–but it was worth it if only for the fact that it introduced me to the music of Leona. Her voice is about as innocent and sweet as it gets.  Her first album introduced me to this song and New York Baby.  It is still my favorite album of hers, but any of her albums are great to listen to in the background to add a bit of happy to an otherwise melancholy day.

 9. Katie Haverly – Katie graduated from the same college as I did; I think it was even the same year. I got to see her perform twice, once in a dorm and the other time at a Bookman’s. Her honesty was striking and her voice seemed to move effortlessly from low sullen tones to high ethereal tones.  I found out she moved to New York and produced a pretty decent musical career for herself that included a couple new albums.  And the best part of this blog, is I just found out that she is hanging out in my town for the time being and I might actually get to see her live again!

8. Sarah McLachlan – I don’t know if anyone puts as much heart into their songs as Sarah does.  Her voice is soothing and comforting and somehow manages to breathe a hint of sadness with it even in her happiest songs.  Fumbling Toward Ecstasy and Surfacing defined my first two years of college.  Possession is kind of like another band’stake on stalking; you know the concept is wrong, but when she sings about it somehow it becomes innocent and misinterpreted as a love song.  But as someone branching out for the first time and trying to define the person he was going to be, this song found itself on repeat quite often back then.

7. Dido – Long before a certain actress was flooding the industry with predictable romantic comedies she costarred in a short-lived television series about aliens living among us.  I really liked that show; it showed a lot of promise, as far as plots go, and had the makings to tell a really good story.  But the biggest reason I like that show was it introduced the world to Dido. I remember when I first heard the theme song – what a powerful song and powerful voice!  It is steady and determined; building slowly yet powerfully just in time to bring it back down and hook you . . . I listened to that song a lot on repeat back when it came out.

6. Jewel – There is a good argument that Jewel Kilcher was the start of my obsession with the female voice.  I was pretty positive that I would meet her one day and she would realize how awesome I was and we would get married and live happily ever after. That first song/video was so powerful, thought provoking . . . and basically beautiful! And then Foolish Games came out – my heart still breaks every time I hear that song.  Her effortless voice is the perfect compliment to the poetry that comes out of her pen.  I also really like her overlying theme of, ‘Yes, I am small and rather insignificant when it comesdown to it, but I can and will make a difference in this world and don’t you dare get in my way when I do it.’

5. A Fine Frenzy – There are very few people who have written a song that makes you feel the raw emotion of the protagonist of a song like Alison Sudol was able to do with her first single.  Her voice comes across so fragile and broken; you can’t help but feel for her and the inevitable loss.  One Cell in the Sea is filled with song after song that fills the listener with empathy for the good and bad times.  Her second album is much more upbeat, but the raw emotion in her voice is the same.

4. Fiona Apple – This is another instance where her first single just knocked me out of the water.  I read an article once (maybe from Spin) that said she set out to be a songwriter because she didn’t think that anyone would appreciate her lower octave voice.  But it is so deep and moody and sullen, how could anyone not appreciate the mood she sets with her songs?  Her voice is the perfect compliment to the lyrics and poetry that she creates.  Tidal creates a world of mood and emotion that grabs the hardest of hearts and shakes it to its core.

 3. KaseyChambers – I said before that there are few songs that evoke the raw emotion of the singer in the listener; Kasey takes the cake in this department.  I’ll never forget the first time I heard the title track from her first album.  I was fresh out of college working on a project in Bisbee, AZ. We were unwinding at the end of the day out in the field with an adult beverage or two at a local bar when I was suddenly aware of the song playing in the background.  Her voice was amazing; so sad and sincere.  Her heart was bleeding out of the speaker through her voice.  Armed with only the impression of her voice singing the few lines that I could remember, I got back to my home at the end of the week and searched for the song on the internet (this was well before smart phones).  Fortunately I found out who sang the song and bought the album the next day.  It has since made its way to the top 10 albums I have listen to the most (but that is another list).

 2. HeatherNova – It may be because the first album that introduced me to Heather was titled Siren, but her voice is what I imagine those mythical creatures would sound like if they existed. I found that album in college (circa 1998) at a local record store that I spent a lot of time at in those days.  In those days, I would buy an album just because of the name of the band/album or the cover of the album.  The cover of the album was striking, but it was her voice that hooked me.  It is otherworldly and so seductive; I’m pretty sure I would have wrecked my ship on the rocks if I heard her voice singing back in the olden days and loved every minute of it.

1. Kacy Crowley – I stumbled upon Kacy at about the same time I found Heather Nova at the same record store. Her debut album was very decent but it didn’t make as big an impression as Siren did.  Don’t get me wrong I loved her voice and songs like Rebellious, Scars, and Bottlecap all had hints of brilliance, but the rest of the album was hit and miss.  But the albums she has put out since are amazing.  She has a hint of raspiness that give her honest and heart-felt lyrics a since of reality.

Until next we meet.