Donata - “Intoxicating Love”

Photo by Laura Russ

For those of you who regularly read the blog, you’ll recall that we are huge fans of a vocal performance that leaves no room for modern production wizardry. And though we realize that there is a time and place for autotune, when you have a voice like Donata, it’s best to just leave your listeners in awe of its raw power. This is what happened when we first heard her latest track, “Intoxicating Love.”

As we are fans of indie folk music, this track immediately strikes a chord with us, beginning with some softly plucked, muted acoustic guitar. But the vocals quickly arrive and that’s about the point where we started writing this blog post– they are exquisite and have inspired us to write some words across this page, beckoning you to press play on this elegantly stripped-back recording.

Once you’ve noticed how glorious these harmonies sound, Donata hits you with a verse that is very pure and heartfelt. It’s very rare that we use the word “powerhouse,” but once you hear how effortlessly she shifts from the upper to lower registers, you will simply be entranced with her control and execution of vibrato. This is one of those rare instances where the language of the lyrics does not matter– the vocal performance alone is worth the price of admission.

We would be remiss not to include some words about the rhythm section. As if Donata’s voice were not enough, there’s a vintage hue on the bass that leaves us wanting to apply it to every song that will ever be recorded until the end of time. And the way that it’s glued to the gentle percussion leaves little else to be desired. In short, “Intoxicating Love” is a masterpiece and if the rest of her album, Imaginary Land, is host to similar productions, you should definitely get it into your ears asap:

-TM