ALBUM:
Over Oceans
TAYLOR USED:
GA-MC
SONG CLIPS:
Into the Green
28k | 56K
Pompeii
28k | 56K
CONTACT INFO:
Cici Porter
P.O. Box 3
Oceanside,
CA 92049
E-mail:
cicipg40 @aol .com
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Cici Porter has been a favorite of Southern California club and concert habitués since the '80s, when she and several San Diego-area co-conspirators
formed the band, Bordertown. That name suggested diversity, and the band accordingly treated audiences to a smorgasbord of musical styles, with Porter,
David Beldock, and Dan Connor alternating as lead singer-songwriter. Today, Porter performs in both Bordertown and another band, Wooden Angel (with
Beldock and Little River Band alumnus Wayne Nelson), whose fusion of rock, country, blues, folk, and swing has received plaudits from fans and critics
alike.
One doesn't so much "listen" to Porter's new solo venture, Over Oceans, as become immersed, as if slipping into a private, indigo pool of thoughtfully
conceived reflections. Perhaps it's overreaching to pin a regional tag on Porter's music, but there's a definite So-Cal vibe in the unhurried pace at
which the tunes bear their charms; in the long-distance lope of her vocal phrasing; in the liquid weave of the instrumentation; in the leeward sway of
the rhythms.
It must be said that the woman can sing, and it would be easy to get lost in the vocals, which smolder one minute, lyrically pirouette the next,
then synchro-shift into Ann Wilson-like laser mode. Thankfully, the songs are up to the challenge posed by Porter's pipes. And, whether underpinned
by languid fingerpicking or the knuckle crunch of compressed rock chording, Porter's music flowers in the lissome arrangements and production
dynamics of Larry Groupé. [Porter has a "ringer" in Groupé, who is her husband and the keyboardist in Wooden Angel; under the more formal
handle of Lawrence Nash Groupé, he composed Water Unfolding, a 10-minute "fantasy for orchestra" that debuted on a 1999 San Diego Symphony
program alongside works by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Stravinksy.]
Porter was a standout performer in the Taylor showcase at the 1999 Folk Alliance Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico (see photo at top of page). Domestic responsibilities
and other considerations preclude extensive touring, so Over Oceans might be the closest you'll get to enjoying this fine artist's work.
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