Departure

Carla Werner | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 29, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000A5A38
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,129 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A truly gorgeous voice just about makes up for everything., November 29, 2003

By 

D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Departure (Audio CD)

Carla Werner's voice is something to behold. While she rarely soars to the heights and dips to the depths, she conjures a lovely croon with a magnetic quality, an old-time folk/pop singer's purity that keeps you listening.

Her songwriting isn't all that impressive. Songs meander and rarely build to emotional peaks beyond a mournful melancholy, and Werner's arrangements rarely stray from the same chiming acoustic strums, single-line melodic guitars and crisp snare drums. The result is a very homogenous-sounding record, where the individual songs fail to stand out and there is nary a memorable hook to be found. However, Werner's voice is so seductive that she can still hold your ear. It's not often that I keep listening to a record with such shapeless and undefined songs, but I did -- all the way through, all because of that voice.

I think Werner can be capable of much more. Singers like Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays) and Caroline Crawley (Shelleyan Orphan, Babacar) have that same vocal purity that can sound beautiful singing the phone book, yet they couple their formidable instruments and technique with exciting compositions, arrangements and lyrics -- and produce pure magic. Crawley's is especially a good example for Carla Werner. If Werner can cut loose a little more and write and record more ambitiously, she will far exceed her current musical expectations.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant Surprise!!, May 5, 2004

By 

Brandon "unraveling the mystery" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Departure (Audio CD)

I bought this cd based on the song clips I heard here on Amazon. The price was cheap, so I figured why not. This cd is wonderful, very laid back. Carla's voice reminds me a lot of Leona Naess, another great singer. The lyrics are simple but meaningful and her sound is very catchy. I would recommend this to anyone, especially at such a low price. I am looking forward to Carla's next release!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Evocative and haunting..., September 20, 2003

By 

Justin Elswick (Provo Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Departure (Audio CD)

I picked up Carla's CD after hearing it at a local Barnes & Nobles store. This New Zealander is a great talent. The music could be described as downtempo haunted folk songs. The lyrics are subtle and meaningful and Carla's voice is superbly sensual. Think of Chris Isaak and the Cowboy Junkies blended together. The closing track, "Iodine Red" is worth the purchase price alone. I don't think I've heard anything so moving in a long time. It conjures up images of driving through the desert on a lonely stormy night. Totally evocative.