The Waterbug Hotel Digest
By Lex Leonard
She's a unique young singer/songwriter
straight from the land of the bear, here in
"Chilltown", land of the bug. Well, I first met Julia
at a small gathering of Russian artists at the "111
Building" (hq for JC's Russian art community). During our
ice-breaking conversation she mentioned something briefly about
her dabbling in music. Nice, I thought to myself - don't we all
- so where are you from? But over and over again after out
brief encounter I'd keep hearing about this unique Russian folk
singer who had to be heard - lo and behold it was that
mysteriously charming young lady I met months before.
Coincidentally as my curiosity with Julia's music grew, Mark
Dagley of Abaton Book Company contacted me about putting
together a show featuring Trees of Nerve Endings, Emerald
Tablets, Pothole Skinny and yes, Julia Vorontsova.
It felt as if some strange wish came
through - not only was I getting a chance to finally hear the
girl's music but to have her perform on my stage, in my loft -
wow!
Her performance, a debut no less, was
amazing ( as amazing as all the other acts that night). I was
truly impressed with the subtlety of Julia's voice and her
modest yet strong stage presence. Although she sang in Russian,
Julia did a great job at getting her message across. She would
explain her songs before she performed them, but she made me
feel the melancholy of her music simply with her gentle voice,
her body language and something else that I can't really put my
finger on. I strongly suggest that next time she performs you
make every effort to check her out, but in the meantime buy one
of her CDs - the next best thing.
