Daria Kulesh
Album: Eternal Child
Label: Folkstock Records
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.daria-kulesh.co.uk/

When we reach a certain indeterminate maturity, when asked our age, we tend to reply with a generalisation, "early thirties", "mid forties" or perhaps "late fifties", possibly because at the spur of the moment, one can't actually remember one's age more precisely. (Not that we couldn't calculate our age, if we could just remeber what the current date is, what year we were born and how to do that carry one bit in the subtraction). Perhaps the main reason though, that none of can recall our age is that inside we all have an eternal child, who refuses to believe that we ever left our teens. My own eternal child is a socially inept sixteen year old. I've done my best to hide him over the years. Daria, though, had a warm, safe, upbringing, resulting in an eternal child inside her that she is comfortable with. Indeed an eternal child that she has celebrated in this, her debut album.

"Eternal Child" isn't a concept album, but there are strong themes here that run throughout, primarily how her childhood experiences and ambitions have shaped her present. She really has bared her soul here.

I must confess that I was expecting to love this album before I heard it. Now, having heard it, I can honestly say that I adore it, but it is absolutely nothing like anything I had imagined. I first came across Daria on youtube singing the Russian song, "Dorogii Dlinnoyu", which is the orignal version of "Those Were The Days", which Mary Hopkin made famous in the UK. I've only ever seen her perform live once, at an open mic night at Twickfolk in Twickenham. There she sang a song that could have been Russian or Ukranian in origin. She is a member of a band called Kara, and I know that they sing Russian and British folk songs. Daria was born in Russia, and so I had made the assumption that this album would be primarily old Russian folk songs.

All the material though is written by Daria. It's all in English, (apart from five little Russian words), and there is very little that would lead you to think that she was Russian. The only possible clue, perhaps, is that her pronunciation is so completely crystal clear that you couldn't imagine any English artist being that precise.

One really good feature of this album is that Daria has dedicated each song to someone or something. Knowing who the song is about makes it so much easier to understand the lyrics. "Right Here" is dedicated to her parents, and sums up the theme of the album. The warm, safe place of her childhood is still inside her.

Slightly worryingly, "Tamed" is dedicated to her husband, but she has also dedicated a love song, "Letting Go", to her first love and another love song, "At Midnight", to someone she had a short lived fling with. She claims her husband is really rare for loving her, but by singing love songs to others must test that rarity.

Although the songs on this album are generally positive, there is a dark side always close at hand. "Butterflies" is dedicated to young sufferers of the genetic disease "Epidermolysis Bullosa", a condition where the skin is stretched, thin and fragile, like butterfly wings, hence the suffers are sometimes referred to as 'butterfly children'. The song, though, is actually about metamorphosing from childhood to adulthood, like a caterpillar.

"Fata Morgana" is dedicated to her fairy godmother. Yes, the part of Daria that hasn't grown up is a Disney Princess, but her fairy godmother doesn't visit that often, and then melts away on the distant horizon like a mirage.

"The Hairdresser" tells of the woman who used to cut Daria's hair when she was a child. The woman was cutting hair to earn money to pay for bail money to release her daughter, who had been arrested for murdering her abusive partner.

The majority of the music on the album is provided by Ben Walker, who also did most of the recording, mixing and producing. He plays a wide variety of instruments, including accordion, ukuele, keyboards, bass, guitar and mandolin. Daria is also joined on "I Watch The Snow" by her fellow Kara band member, Kate Rouse, playing an absolutely beautiful instrument called a hammered dulcimer; by Kaity Rae, playing cello on "Fake Wonderland", and by Lauren Deakin-Davies who plays guitar on "Butterflies" and "Fake Wonderland", keyboards on "Fake Wonderland" and a role in production.

She is also joined by a certain talented singer songwriter from Kent, Luke Jackson, (just awarded Fatea male vocalist of the year), who provides backing vocals and guitar on "Cracks". All told, a very talented group of musicians, playing some very beautiful music.

As well as writing and singing, Daria shows that her talents don't just stop at music, as she designed all of the album artwork as well. Her hair is streaked with die the colour of autumn leaves, so virginia creepers feature heavily on the sleeve but I particularly like the pregnant guitar on the front. The album comes complete with a booklet containing all of the lyrics, but her singing is so clear, you'll hardly need to look at them.

All told, a phenomenal debut album.

Pete Bradley