aaamusic | On 02, Sep 2012

Soledad Vélez is a female acoustic folk singer from Chile. Rather than sing softly along to the gentle tones of the backing music on this album Vélez croons and howls passionately throughout Wild Fishing. Her vocals are haunting, as you can hear the gusto she puts into every breath and every note.

The album itself is rather moody and dark- think a more folky PJ Harvey and you would be along the right lines. At times the music of Soledad Vélez is almost avant garde such as on tracks like “Don’t Worry Babe” and “Johnnie”- a jaunty upbeat foot stomping tune. However, Vélez slows it down on songs like “Birds” and “It Wasn’t Me” where we hear a slightly softer tone in the vocals- giving the songs a certain sense of fragility.
A highlight of the album for me is “Don’t Worry Babe” which is an infectious tune with a haunting melody and a genius refrain. While there are some brilliant moments on this album, there ae also times when it feels a little like hard work- this might not be a record that you will play over and over from start to finish, but there are certainly a few keepers in the 12 song offering.

★★★★★

Orna Lyons