Victoria B. Berringer
Album: Just Singin'
Label: Epona
Tracks: 14
Website: https://www.epona.com

"Singing, for me, is a form of expression, like no other." That's the personal credo of Victoria B. Berringer, a singer originally hailing from Co Durham but now based in Staffordshire; she performs exclusively a cappella on this disc, which I understand to be her first recording - though her singing is by no means lacking in experience, accomplishment or vision.

Even for the seasoned listener, one accustomed to a cappella singing, Victoria's singing style is both unusual and noteworthy. The first thing you notice is that her interpretations are both distinctively personal and slightly unorthodox, often adopting phrasing that departs from the conventional (by which I mean that heard in your average folk club or session). Although taken briskly (at least when you clock the playing-time), Victoria's readings tend to say much within that short timespan, neither seeming too rushed nor too long or drawn out but equally not shortchanging on emotional import, all the while demonstrating a clear-sighted (if sometimes perhaps idiosyncratic) understanding of the text. Victoria's sense of internal rhythm is best (and honestly) described as individual, and breaths are taken in sometimes unexpected places, though without disturbing the onward flow of the delivery or the progress of the narrative or meaning. The contrasting deployment of measured momentary repose and onward propulsion through tight word and dynamic control of legato vibrato can be heard to contribute to Victoria's persuasive, knowing passion, conveying the singer's personal response and making that text her own. Victoria's take on The Leaves In The Woodland (from Peter Bellamy's Transports, and here curiously re-titled Deportation Song) furnishes a particularly good example of this natural and unforced combination of vocal characteristics in action at the service of the song and projecting the singer's own personality (although those used to considering June Tabor matchless in this song will surely need to approach Victoria's rendition with very fresh ears). Although Victoria's fresh-toned mode of delivery is largely accentless, she adopts her native north-eastern inflections with conviction for The Kyes Come Hyme.

Victoria's quick to acknowledge her inspirations, including her admiration for the late Judy Dinning (one which I also much share), and she tackles two contrasted songs associated with Judy here: the traditional Once I Loved (aka Go And Leave Me) and the convivial Charlie Dore-Ricky Ross number Lone Ranger, although to my mind the latter doesn't quite suit Victoria's personality or technique. In this connection too, it must be said that any one listener may well not agree with every aspect of her interpretations, but on the other hand she commands respect for her considered artistic decisions, although there are times when her refusal to linger over a melodic line can seem a trifle dismissive, as on Ca' The Yowes.

The sequencing of the varied programme may at times feel a touch uncertain - for instance, Peter DeRose's lyric Deep Purple (which was a hit for Nino Tempo and April Stevens in late '63, you'll remember) lurches in like a fish out of water in between Huw Williams' We Stayed Awake and the brace of north-eastern songs, and its very brevity doesn't really allow it to make any kind of mark when placed at that point on the disc. But I readily acknowledge (from first-hand experience) that programming an a cappella set is always a tricky proposition, especially where the singer concerned has a ready command of several different types of song.

The presentation and design of this release are attractive, although a small number of unfortunate typos in the documentation will (inevitably) slightly detract from the credibility of its contents. That little niggle aside, this is an enterprising and worthwhile project, in which connection Epona label boss Michael Billington should be praised for taking a chance and courageously releasing a valuable (and yes, listenable) disc of unaccompanied song that's as far from that genre's cliché/stereotype (the sometimes flawed or unavoidably off-key amateur or source singer at one extreme and the mannered "professionalism" of the consciously trained vocal practitioner at the other) as one can get.

I'll be returning to Victoria's singing again for certain, and not only for her insights into some songs that were comparatively new to me. There are some singers whom, on hearing them perform a cappella, one feels would benefit from a modicum of instrumental accompaniment or enhancement, even on a part-time basis, but Victoria is not one of them, for her voice is her unique talent, the unadulterated embodiment of her personality, and it demands not to be diluted but to be taken exactly for what it is. The glory of this stance is that refusal to compromise does not deliver an inaccessible end-product.

David Kidman