Higher Octave
New Age, 2002

Sounding like a huskier Caroline Levelle and influenced by a more eclectic selection of international folk flavors, Tina Malia’s Shores of Avalon is a melting pot of noticeably Celtic, Indian, Arabic, and even an occasional jazz/blues thrown in. It should be fun.

But not really. Tracks like the title track and Isis are pleasant enough, but there isn’t any track that actually stands out and sticks to my memory. The music is pleasant, the production is pretty good, and there’s nothing grating about the vocals. But everything just blurs into a pleasant, nondescript background track of “Ooh-ooh-ooh” and “Aah”s and pleasant piano/violin/synthesizer thingies.

In short, the perfect music to listen to in the ear. Doubt I’ll get distracted and end up singing along and hence ending up in a ditch or something, because Shores of Avalon is that inoffensive. Pleasant and absolutely forgettable. Ooh-ooh ah-ah zzzz…