2008 Top-20 Countdown - No.2

Fredo Viola - The Turn

Best voice for 2008 goes without doubt to an unusual guy of Italian descent, born in England and raised in New York. But let's hear Fredo Viola: "I was born in London, England and spent my first five years living in England and Rome. After that my family moved to New York, then Los Angeles, where I spent most of my adolescent years, singing professionally as a boy soprano and studying art once my voice changed. Finally I moved back to NYC to attend NYU Tisch School of the Arts. I studied to be a film director, and during this period discovered the music of Bartok, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, which had an immense effect on me. It has since developed into a passion for the operas of Benjamin Britten, Mozart and the work of Alfred Schnittke. I enjoy anything imaginative and eclectic, and have soaked up the music of Belle and Sebastian, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Joni Mitchell, Biff Rose, Harry Nilsson, Harry Nilsson (yes, again, I love him this much!) and Odetta. Gospel music rocks my socks off. Oh, and Bach. Out of school first I tried editing and animation design, which I think I did pretty well, as it afforded me the opportunity to save enough money to set myself up with a pretty awesome little home recording studio. I then got to work on making my own music. In 2004 I had one of my songs licensed for use in Jonathon Demme’s Manchurian Candidate. Then I made my first music video, The Sad Song, which was a pretty huge hit on the net. I received emails from Roger Ebert, Massive Attack, Neil Gaiman, ABC News Now, and director Mike Binder, all offering opportunities.In 2006 I signed with trés chic French music label, Because Music, and have my first album scheduled for release in mid 2008, along with a lot of digital video art." his music is transcendental, ethereal, but all the same, very current and earthly too. His visual aesthetic is unique too, evidenced by the art in his websites and the unique approach for his video site. His version of Silent Night is amazing no matter what you believe in (or not). The Turn is probably the most beautiful album for 2008 in every aspect and rightly deserved no. 1 in my list, but that went to something entirely different, for various reasons. Check tomorrow's post to see why.

The Turn


Sad Song


Silent Night - Fredo Viola(featuring Nils Christian Fossdal)

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