Yova Radevska
Hourglass Diary
Anyway Records
visit Yova's website
also available on cd baby
This young Macedonian, that lives in London, singer songwriter’s first disc is beginning to gather much noise about it, and her fresh and lush approach probably has a lot to do with the buzz that is circulating. She has a sweet, yet not at all cloying, voice that is breathy without betraying the least bit of weakness or fragility that might accompany this type of voice. The voice does sound strong, and though young, shows the full strength of womanhood that has seen much of life and knows the pendulum will swing back around again. Hourglass Diary is most definitely a pop disc that has freshness and strength about it and a large part of that may be due to the songwriting. She had a hand in writing all 11 of the songs, 10 of them with Stuart Mitchell, Sean Caulfield, and James Bell (the first two also produced and played guitar and keys on the disc and James is
the bass player), the last song was written by the above team and Lonsdale (?). The songs are very much about coming into adulthood and all the turmoil it can bring, but it shows the strength that is imbued in the human spirit and is never maudlin or soppy.
The production stays on the more acoustic side so that the music never dominates her voice but presents it to us clearly and with the nuances intact. She is an interesting artist that has much to offer and it will be very interesting to see what happens here.