Reviews of Laurel MacDonald's CD Kiss Closed My Eyes
Produced by Philip Strong • Improbable Music, 1995

"Startlingly hypnotic composition
by one of the indie scene's most original artists..."
- John Sakamoto, Toronto Sun

"MacDonald's range is enormous, drifting to and fro
between crystal clear whispers and heart-wrenching wails.
It's like listening to someone spin gold."
- Kevin Press, Venue

"Densely textured and exquisitely woven."
- Larry LeBlanc, Billboard

"MacDonald possesses a voice of real beauty
- pure and string with an edge of harshness"
- David Toop, The Times, UK

"simply breathtaking work defying description"
- Kerry Doole, Impact

"...Kiss lurks in the infinite blank space between everyday objects
where the only transcendental possibility is in the echo of one's own voice."
- Bob Tarte, The Beat

"Best unknown record of 1996?
Canadian singer Laurel MacDonald's Kiss Closed My Eyes - hands down.
The dark atmosphere of Bulgarian vocal music, eerie background sampling scenarios
and choke-throated Balkan style singing will leave you, as I,
speechless, stunned and mystified."
- Dwight Loop, Hologramophone

"By any measure, Laurel MacDonald is a genius. A thumbnail of her CV goes something like this: raised in Halifax by wacky Cab Calloway- and Red Army Chorus-loving parents who turn her on to music at a young age; studies classical guitar as teenager and discovers her 'modernist' soul when teacher exposes her to 20th-century composers like Steve Reich; moves to Toronto to study art and art history; works in photography; makes strides as clothing designer; scraps everything and returns to music; takes up the bodhrán, bouzouki and harmonium; scores several films, unassisted; awarded art grants from all three levels of government and uses the loot to create one of the most beautiful records ever to come out of this country.

"Her debut CD, Kiss Closed My Eyes, is pan-global in every sense. Using traditional Celtic, Balkan, Middle Eastern and Indian musical references (with production by Philip Strong, a protege of plunderphonic pioneer John Oswald), MacDonald's voice soars through tin whistles and drums with orchestral intensity - then drifts into several sleepy meditative passages, which become little temples along the way. If this weren't eclectic enough, the brew becomes even more peculiar on Strong's plundered composition Aslumber, pieced together from various sections of the album.

" 'I was really, really lucky,' MacDonald says over coffee in a downtown bakery. 'Between the three grants I was able to hire the players that I needed, and work for a good amount of time. That was important, because it meant that Phil and I were able to spend months on this project, which we did.'

" 'We couldn't have done it in a regular studio, because you're looking at incredible rates of money, and the clock's ticking away, and all you can think about is how long it's taking you, and you get really uptight.'

"In the end, they decided to record partially in Strong's home studio, and her own basement studio - which in itself is an incredible feat, considering MacDonald lives deep in the heart of a buzzing, funky downtown village and owns a frisky dog.

" 'We padded up all the walls to deaden the sound, and put extra plexi over the windows to cut out as much traffic noise as possible, and we managed to keep the dog quiet long enough to get our tape done, so it actually worked really well.' "

- Erin Hawkins, eye Magazine

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