Gloria Bangiola
‘Fool’s Gold’
Grade: C+
There are some albums that reek of Starbucks. They are a calming compilation of acoustic riffs and poetic lyrics that beg to be heard while sipping iced caramel macchiatos and nibbling on vanilla bean scones. That was my impression of local singer-songwriter Gloria Bangiola’s album “Fool’s Gold.”
“Fool’s Gold” is 34-minute hike riddled with hidden ravines that trip you into shallow pools of despair and loneliness. But in a matter seconds you’re back on your feet and obnoxiously content as the quick guitar strumming with uplifting choruses and soft percussion washes over you.
The tone of “Fool’s Gold” is folky with hints of Irish ballads, jazz and a little bluegrass. It’s something you might run across on your Lumineers or Head and the Heart stations on your Pandora account — if you still use Pandora, that is.
The final song on the album, “Sister,” offers a different sound with lyrics and hesitant beat steeped in old spirituals. As the song progresses, the line “Go down to the river / dowse yourself in holy water” is repeated, and more and more voices gradually join in to build a soulful ending.
The amount of thought and care that went into writing the music is abundantly clear throughout the album. Bangiola is a skilled guitarist, and she matches her strings perfectly with gentle percussion that never overpowers her guitar or her voice.
Bangiola’s voice is far from what I expected and doesn’t quite match the kind of music she writes and produces. Though her music infuses sounds of folk and jazz, there is an unmistakable note of a long show choir career in Bangiola’s voice. It’s confident, almost excessively so. In some places, the strength of her voice is overpowering, and you can hear her vocal control almost like screeching breaks in your head.
That isn’t to say it doesn’t work. The contrast of her easy music and her obvious formal vocal training is alluring and almost a nice break from the smooth, soft voices we associate with this genre. But it can be jarring in some areas where her voice just can’t bend or soften enough to match the flow of musical notes.
Overall, “Fool’s Gold” is an impressive album coming from a relatively young artist and a prime example of the kind of talent hiding in Bloomington.
