Itziar - Itziar (Japan SHM-CD) (2009)

TZIAR are a 6-member folk-prog band named after Itziar Egileor, a Basque female singer with a beautiful, crystalline voice reminiscent of Sandy Denny's. The band's only album displays the sensitive songwriting of Dutch folk band NIGHTWATCH and are quite similar in style and atmosphere to both HAIZEA and ITOIZ; in fact, if you switch the latter band's male vocalist for a female, you'll get an idea of what ITZIAR sound like. All lyrics are sung in Basque.

Thanks to Lost Vinyl, a rare Spanish label specializing in re-releasing old forgotten treasures, we can now sample their eponymous album, originally released by Elkar in 1979. It is a very fragile and intimate piece of folk prog that essentially highlights Itziar's delicate voice; it features lots of acoustic guitar (surprisingly no Flamenco elements whatsoever), solid bass lines and powerful drumming, spacey flute, a few subtle touches of Mellotron, some slide guitar as well as mad, fuzzy guitar licks and early 70's British-style jazzy sax parts. An altogether very delicate and laid-back folk-psych album.

Particularly recommended to fans of TREES, FAIRPORT CONVENTION, HAIZEA, EMTIDI and ITOIZ; Egileor's voice will also ring true with fans of Maddy Prior and Sandy Denny.