Myspace Music Friend Request Reviews!
Today we check out Haingo who resides somewhere in French Canada.
(I like to think that somebody was taking a picture of some artwork when she randomly jumped in front of the camera and struck a pose.)1) How does somebody who appears so brittle have such a deep and resounding voice?
2) R&B exists in Quebec?
First of all, before I say something mean (accidental or otherwise), this woman has a terrific voice. I can appreciate a talent even if I don't appreciate the way it's been put to use. And even though this style of R&B isn't/ain't my thing/thang, I find her actual voice very appealing.
[note: I've got to say nice things like that on the off-chance that Haingo will come to my blog and read about herself. I may sound like a jerk sometimes, but I'm honestly not that interested in hurting feelings.]
Now then,
I don't know how up-to-date the trends wafting through Quebec are (though admittedly Montreal's indie scene is killer), but Anita Baker and Whitney Huston ate this genre up fifteen years ago. I'm done with it, and I thought everybody else was too. But not Haingo. Haingo is not done with fifteen-year-old R&B.
Most of the tunes on her Myspace page are just song snippets, but snippets are all I can handle. Thirty seconds is even a bit long for some of these tunes, and I can't even imagine the damage a full album of Haingo might do. There are two full-length songs, "Aza" and "Nifamilafila". Predictably I don't care for "Aza", which sounds like a Christmas song I often hear in department stores during the holidays. (In chemical nomenclature, by the way, aza- is a prefix indicating the presence of nitrogen [thank you wikipedia]) But UNpredictably I DO care for "Nifamilafila". It's the cool jazz that saves it. The slow-going, perhaps. Maybe the undescernable French lyrics too. Saucy. If you're going to give Haingo a chance at all then concentrate all your listenability onto this song.
I will say that Haingo is better than Celine Dion, but what kind of comparison is that?
In all I give Haingo three Haingos out of ten.
(And look, I didn't even make fun of her name. Not once!)
