With Wandr'ing Feet CD by Windborne Singers  © 2011  16 Tracks  Total
Running Time: 48:52   CD   $19.96     MP3 Download   $8.99

I Know Whose Tears     3:13   Se tu sapissi lu male          1:59
Lakebma rom               3:13   Lamentu di una Minanna     3:22
Kalos Khelkhvavi          1:53   Pretty Saro
2:31
Tsmindao Ghmerto       2:03   Bayside Lament                  3:25
Chkimi T'oronji             2:50
Walkley                              3:34
How Long                    2:18   Messa Corsa
8:18
St. Gaudens                2:06
Squier                                2:57
Precure cum le meie    2:16   Chilly Winds                       2:49

Windborne Singers began as Windborne Duo (Will Thomas and Lynn Mahoney
who married in 2009) , then added Lauren Breunig (who had guested on
their original release), to become Windborne Trio. They bring a unique
blend of traditional and American music with Eastern European
(specifically from western Georgian provinces) and Mediterranean
(specifically Corsican) vocal trio music (see, I told you it was
unique!) They not only sing the music as it was performed
traditionally, but through their studies they have learned how to
improvise with it, in a traditional manner (traditional improv, who
knew?). They have been described as “vocal chameleons,” which seems
like the best way to describe a group which ranges as far afield as
they do looking for inspiration.

Some of terms and forms used for their music were unfamiliar to me,
and sent me scrambling to assorted reference works to learn more (but
that's just the way I am). You don't need to know anything about Shape-
Note music notation or Appalachian ballad singing to be able to
appreciate the soaring sounds of this multi-talented trio.

Their voices blend well and Will's occasional contribution of chonguri
(a four-stringed Georgian instrument which is played like a cross
between a flamenco guitar and a banjo) playing – see, even their
instrumentation is unique – brings a feeling which is hard to
describe. They blend all these influences, and then throw in some
modern creations just to leaven the whole production.

Will and Lynn collaborated to produce Bayside Lament. If this is a
portent of what is to come, they will be making significant
contributions not only to their own repertoire, but to that of other
singing groups.

The more I listen to their music, the more I fall in love with it. It
is hard to classify; it is hard to explain why it is as appealing as
it is; it is a great many things, but the thing it is most in FUN.
Even the songs which have less than happy bases (“Lamentu di una
Minanna” is “Lament of a Grandmother” in Corsican) have a compelling
quality about them.

After spending the part of an hour immersed in the experience which is
this album, I was left with a desire to immediately restart it. There
aren't a lot of disks, in my experience, which trigger that sort of
response, but this is definitely one of them.