By Brian Rill
Xanthe’s tools consist of a guitar and voice, however to say she only has a voice without indulging wholly in the expansiveness of it’s character and the contour of her descant would be a mistake. The commodity value of repetition lacks weight when compared with the absolutely brilliant simplicity of Xanthe’s representation of the Muse. A supremely stripped down version of folk, Time Of War as an album represents a single prayer lifting on the rising vapors beneath the Omphalos, a sacred stone at the Delphic Oracle where a Priestess receives her vision.
Learning to sing along with classics spinning on vinyl, Xanthe experienced a secular upbringing amongst the radical vocal harmony of the seventies. Linda Ronstadt, Simon and Garfunkel; each influence subtlety creates a mutation that exemplifies her own unique style. Laying most of the harmony tracks over her self in the studio conceives an interesting chorus adding a polished patina to an altogether perfect folk CD. In her tune, Poets she teams up with fellow vocalist Harriett Landrum who adds her calm singing into the mix.