Displaying a darker tone, Kristi Stassinopoulou might be called a Greek Enya. The music here falls into moody almost brooding territory. Although Kristi marries traditional Greek songs with contemporary pop, the songs are merely tinged with Greek influences. Kristi waxes poetry in the same sense that many of the British pop shoe gazers did in the early 90′s. The style here falls between black turtleneck bohemian and ethnic jewelry. Imagine a Greek Danielle Dax mixing art with pop sensibility.
Like many of her Greek contemporaries, Kristi presents us with melancholy pop sung in the Greek language. Unlike many other Greek women performers, you will not find many up-tempo songs on this CD. You will find many sad laments about various kinds of loss among this ambient collection of songs. And Kristi’s sweet voice often feels like a lullaby being sung in your ears, especially on Don’t Say I Regret, leading us to a bittersweet conclusion.
An array of instruments appears on these carefully composed songs, including violin, clarinet, djembe, accordion along with more exotic instruments. While drum and percussion tracks augment Kristi’s songs, her vocals become the main focus and the instrumental tracks become a wonderful tapestry in which Kristi does embellish. Yet, despite beauty that can often be found in sad moments, Echotropiaisn’t the album for everyone. If you are looking for danceable tracks instead of introspective tracks, you will have to search elsewhere, but if you’re looking for an other worldly experience, then you will feel at home listening to this CD.
