Music Reviews of Alice Di Micele's "Searching"
Dirty Linen, August/September 1993
Alice Di Micele (pronounced Dee-Mi-Sell-ee)
has acomplished a tough task with her self-produced
recording of new folk, socially concious, politically
correct, acoustic music with meaning, or whatever label
you choose to call this testament to the not-so-simple
art of songwriting and tasteful performance, all rolled
into one young Oregonian. Searching is Di Micele's
fourth recording since 1988, a very honest recording
in which Di Micele reveals her passion for the Earth,
for other people, for life and love and all that is
beautiful and righteous. Yet she is never sappy nor
preachy. Her politics are framed nicely in her portraits
of people or events. Rather than knocking you down
with morals, she washes over you with a kind voice
and gentle guitar; the message get through. Her voice
has warmth, purpose, and lots of guts, stretching to
show you how she really feels, not how a slick producer
might want her to sound on pop radio. Her acoustic
guitar in it's varied strums and picks is pleasant
accompaniment. The additions of percussion (Jane Machamer)
and bass (Leah Hinchcliff) are smooth and not at all
pretentious or overdone.
(LE)
Heartsong Review, Fall '92, Winter
'93 No. 13
Get ready for another power packed album
from this shining star of a radical eco-warrior. Alice's
strength helps all in finding a voice to speak out
against the destruction of the earth and encouraging
women's empowerment. She adds a couple of inspiring
love songs as well, sung in her emotionally textured,
gutsy alto. The opening folk/rock song, "In A World",
has a rousing must-sing chorus. "And I want to live
where the sun/ Can never shine too bright/ And I want
to live where it's safe to walk alone at night/ ...where
I can drink the water that falls from the sky." "Safe
Tonight" asks a question to those living with co-dependency: "With
a broken collar bone and a bruised up back/..He says
it won't happen again, but don't you wait for the next
fight/ Cause you deserve to be safe tonight." "Thorns
and Brambles" is a sad, mist-filled song which explores
the pains of the inner child, and the healing process: "I
took a walk inside my dream to find my true desire/
And there we both stood hand in hand, my thorny shield
afire/ I felt a peace I've never known."
Also touching is "Land of Broken Promises," which
points out the true cost of the Iraqi war: "They don't
cound the desert wildlife/ They don't count the silent
women/ They don't cound Iraqi people the same way they
count me and you." In "Defend the Earth," we are each
one challenged to, "Dfend the earth, do what you can,
do what you must/ but just do something to defend the
Earth." This is an inspiring and powerful collection
of songs great to stir the heart to action. Great for
singing along, driving and a must to share with friends.
Highly Recommended. (Sequoia)
Ladyslipper
Alice is continuing on a fruitful musical
journey, as this 1992 release demonstrates. Her rich,
sweet, emotive voice rides and caresses her beautiful
melodies and messages of love, caring, concern and
passion. Her topics her are the earth (her land and
her creatures) love (she writes sweetly about the long-term
kind as well as the discovery of love), desire, domestic
violence, the Gulf War (Land of Broken Promises). Some
lovely violin accompaniment in addition to the guitars/bass/percussion.
The title of That Sweetness, the closing song, probably
sums up the album in two words.
Talking Leaves, Samhain 92
By Jesse "Wolf" Hardin
"And I want to live where the sun can never
shine too bright
And I want to live where it's safe to walk alone at night
And I want to live where I can drink the water that falls from the sky
And I want to live in true equality with everything alive
I WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE ALL THERE IS TO SING ABOUT
IS LOVE AND THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH."
It was that way throughout the long evolution
of humanity. It was the primary and essential human
experience until patriarchal civilization reared it's
ugly head some 15,000 years ago and virtually took
over in the last 1,500 years. It may well be that way
again when Mother Nature wrests the reins from her
wanton offspring, but for now it is only a dream-a
dream shared by Chipko tree-huggers, Native Americans
Shamans, the sensitive ones, the bards and daughters
of the Earth.
I first heard of Alice Di Micele from Bobcat
and Julie, two tireless defenders of remnant ancient
forests now working with Headwaters. Julie's tears
inspired the song bearing her name (on It's A Miracle),
one of many songs bearing witness to both individual
and global anguish, personal and planetary joy. Her
albums and concerts expose the seamless unity of inner
and outer, self and planet. Songs written for her lover
become songs for her lover-the-Earth as well.
"I was searching for a reason to love
But when i looked and saw your face
Heaven opened up for me
And I knew just where I wanted to be.
I was searching for a reason to sing
but when I looked and saw this place
Heaven opened up for me
And I knew just where I wanted to be."
In the many deep ecology workshops I do,
a "talking stick" is passed around the circle to encourage
people to share their feelings. One of the most common
and disturbing themes addressed by women is their lifetime
of physical and sexual abuse, experienced as the ongoing
rape of the planet Earth, indifferentiable, and unbearable.
Thus when Alice sings to a battered wife, she uses
the metaphors of Nature:
"You are as precious as a prairie flower
Beautiful as the seas on a moonlit night
Sweet as wild honey, oh the bee's delight
Soft as a butterfly as she takes flight
And you deserve to be safe tonight."
With the release of her fourth album, Searching,
Alice Di Micele has eschewed the heavy studio production
in favor of the warmth and intimacy of sparse and tasteful
instrumentation. This allows the most powerful instrument
of all, her superlative voice, to really stand out
and shine. Shine like sweat. Like the sparkle in the
eye. Like love. It is a voice equal in range and emotion
to the incredible blues singer Rory Block, with the
mix of vulnerability, emotion, and raw power we associate
with Janis Joplin. Alice's jazz inflections and playful
scat set her apart as a unique and authentic voice
for our time. All this, along with an uncompromised
message of sweet resistance:
"In my mind I cannot see the sense of global
suicide
for the few who live in luxury
Perhaps it's up to you and I
To save this world we'll have to put up one hell of a good fight, a good fight.
And We have a voice and bodies as strong as the mountains
yes we have a choice
Be part of the destruction or do something to defend the Earth."
A third of the audience at her recent WOW
Hall concert in Eugene knew all the words. The mostly
female voices rang back blissful and angelic. "Defend
the Earth, Defend the Earth, Defend the Earth."
"I WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE ALL THERE
IS TO SING ABOUT
IS LOVE AND THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH."
In Searching, the search is for ourselves.
Only we can make it so.
Victory Review, October 1992
By Percy Hilo
Alice continues to grow in presentation
and maturity, as her lastest recording reveals both
an expanding vocal range and a lyrical depth that gives
increased meaning to her ever-present political/sprititual/environmental
concerns. "In A World" (With a good singable chorus)
is her dream of a healthy planet, while "Safe Tonight" is
a compassionate anti-doormat song that pleads for women
to recognize their self-worth. "Everything" is a most
moving and poetic song of realized love (with equally
beautiful violin work from Brian Price) and is followed
by the vulnerable "Thorns and Brambles," which celebrates
the sharing of relationships. "Land of Broken Promises" decries
the arrogance and genocide of the Gulf War, "Defend
the Earth" is a splendid call to action, and "Searching" tells
of finding the answers of life in our hearts and eyes.
This recording (like Alice's live sets) is good for
the mind, heart and ears. Treat yourself to this one!
Victory Review, October 1993
By Nicki De
Searching, recorded in 1992, refers to
political matters of Desert Storm and global pollution,
but somehow Di Micele has found more room for amour
and the beauty of this life since her last album, Too
Controversial. "Safe Tonight" is the most poignant
tale of a battered woman I've encountered. Listening
to "Moonrise and Emotion" conjured thoughts of Ellen
McIlwain's raw, impromptu vocal gymnastics-pure, soul-felt
emotion. "Everything" creates a jazzy Appalachian poetry,
and "Searching", the album's title cut, stretches Di
Micele's voice until it dances with itself in this
spirited song telling a long tale in a few words. This
is good stuff. Buy it!
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