Search - Miriam Stockley :: Second Nature

While her orchestra-backed debut solo recording, Miriam, largely portrayed Miriam Stockley (the distinctive vocal component of Adiemus) as an alternate Enya, Second Nature, her second release, attractively broadens her stylistic range. The South African-born vocalist still belongs in the New Age-easy-listening section of your music collection, but Stockley pursues an elevated level of "easy" that is smartly conceived and gracefully executed. Second Nature finds Stockley emphasizing more contemporary instrumentation and moods, and the effort yields winning results. Whether by design or not, Stockley could earn cross-format radio exposure with the jazzy allure of "Butterfly" or the shifting "Massai Rain" and its mix of ethnic-angelic voices, stylish rhythms, and muted trumpet. Stockley still lets her regal instincts shine on such pop-classical works as "Umoya," "One Dream," and "Finlandia" with its quiet prelude of jazz harmonies. And the delicate intelligence of her pop pieces ("Rainsong," "Sabancaya," and the lovely "Tula") is simply refreshing. Her nasal-textured child-choir sound is still in evidence here, but it's less pervasive than on her Adiemus recordings, a plus on a disc full of plusses. --Terry Wood