Suzanne Langille with Loren Mazzacane Connors
The Enchanted Forest
Secretly Canadian
Ms. Langille has a voice that haunts. OK, so “haunts” might elicit groans from those who’ve read the word as often as ethereal or that fabled adjective, mercurial. But really, as has been the case on her previous collaborations with Loren Mazzacane Connors, Langille manages a blues quality that is much closer to the bone – much closer to soul.
Based on both the film and text of The Enchanted Forest, Langille oddly yet effectively sings the parts of a half-dozen individual and group characters expressing a tale of lost child and an endangered forest. Accompanied by guitarist Connors, Langille’s interpretation of this fantasy is unlike any post rock mandate, or for that matter, any modern music mandate. Exploring a literary theme so comprehensively as to take on multiple characters’ voices, Langille essentially challenges establishment. Why? Communication seems the primary motivation. Both musicians represented themselves for years independent of public fanfare, although recent years have been more critically generous. Risk is not foreign. The Enchanted Forest is a lullaby to confidence and artistic freedom. Weird and captivating. Secretly Canadian Records, 1703 N. Maple St., Bloomington, IN 47404
