If I were asked to give a capsule description of the music played by this group, I'd term it up "tempo country with rock leanings". Although regular readers will know that I'm not too fond of country music, I was quite able to listen to this disc and derive pleasure from the twelve songs contained within. This is probably due to the fact that the style varies slightly from song to song, and so the group maintains one's interest without appearing to be looking for a style. "Eiler Avenue" opens the disc in salutary style; careful mandolin picking and slide guitar glissandi accompany a Nadeau original, in which Laura sounds somewhat like Dar Williams. Although there is a country inflection, the instruments are used to conjure up a delicate mood, and not a bluegras extravaganza as my description might imply.

Now, if all the songs were like this, I would be more than happy, but unfortunately that is not so; the second song ("Look Back At Me") is fairly straightforward rock, with assertive electric guitar and pounding drums, showing few signs of distinction. Following this is the pure country sound of "Crocodile Man"--vocals straight out of the Grand Ole Opry, country drumming and the dobro lending its distinctive voice. Still country, but more upbeat, is the fourth track: "Blackbird Song" features the voice of Chris Biester (sounding remarkably like Bryan Adams)in a duet with Nadeau. The Adams comparison is not just on the basis of the vocal similarity -- the guitars and drums make it sound like a female vocalist guesting on an Adams track.

Things get back to a more original and interesting direction on the Nadeau-penned track "Bert" which leads me to conclude that Stella should consider an "originals only" policy, which would allow them to find their individual voice. But this suggestion is not exclusive: on the one hand, there are originals which I would prefer to forget, and on the other hand, the guitar work on the non-original "Lay It Down" is definitely interesting and original.

The lyrics to all the original songs are printed on the four panel CD sleeve which allows one to read and appreciate them outside of the context of the songs, but unfortunately they are printed without respect to the order in which the songs appear on the disc ("Eiler Avenue" opens the disc but is the last song on the page), and are printed horizontally (almost like prose), which I found difficult to follow.

Stella have their own Web site which possesses a clean design and gives a reasonable amount of information. It's possible to download three complete songs from this site ("Eiler Avenue" and "Blackbird Song" are two; the somewhat annoying "Housewife" is the third), so one can form one's own opinion and not rely on mine. There are also biographies and gig sheets available. What intrigues me is the site's description of Stella's music: "Stella weaves well-crafted folk-rock with a dash of country and bluegrass thrown in for good measure". I think that we have two completely different definitions of what folk-rock is, and I would say that there is more than "a dash of country", but well-crafted it is for sure.

If I were marking this disc (twelve songs, forty five minutes) as a term paper, I would give it a mark of B: well put together, professionally played and produced, but too homogenised and not enough originality. Those who favour the country market will probably like it more than me. It would seem that the disc is available only from the group's Web site, although I imagine that they will sell it at gigs.

[No'am Newman]