ALTHEA BAXTON "Sparkling Voice"

by jenny heying

There are many incredible voices to be found in Second Life® and there is always room for more. Taking in Althea Baxton at Eons Ballroom reminded me of this. You can add her to the list.

Hailing from Belgium with a French background, Althea opened with “Angel” and her voice permeated throughout the venue with a slight hint of her accent. More noticeable when she talks, but it adds a little sparkle to her voice. While the opening number was good, her voice seemed to suit the second number “New Soul”. It’s a cute song and Althea’s voice lends itself to cuteness. It’s sweet and playful and inspires fun.

Althea is playful between songs and on some songs, but when it needs to be serious, it gets there. When called upon, her voice takes center stage and envelopes the crowd. You drop what your doing and focus. She’s that good. Being a sucker for accents and foreign languages, I cringed when she sang in French. A good cringe. While her English is phenomenal, French songs give her an edge. They make her exotic and even though I didn’t understand the words, it didn’t matter. She made you feel you understood.

The backing tracks were adequate and not too domineering and although she occasionally lost her place, she giggled and carried on, adding to the humor. She keeps in touch with her audience and doesn’t lose sight of who she’s performing for. She interacts between songs and does follow the chat.

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Hearing “When You Say Nothing At All” with her French accent actually made me like the song. Weird. She performed it well and most of the covers she does, while close to the original are done just a tad differently adding to the uniqueness Althea brings to the stage. I don’t know if it’s deliberate but it works well.

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Althea probably falls through the cracks a lot. She’s not flashing and doesn’t do anything unusual on stage. She just sings. While that may not garner her a lot of attention, she’s worth seeing and hearing. Unusual in this day and age to take the stage and sing without the antics and gimmicks but it’s refreshing.

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She covers a wide range from Katie Melua to the Beatles but always keeps it on the softer side. I can imagine listening to her while I’m sipping wine on my patio. Maybe I will. Her show is light, fun and gratifying. This lady can sing but isn’t pretentious about it. She’s having as much fun as you are.

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Also on her set list this night were "Baby Don't You Break My Heart", "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker" and an awesome version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".

Anytime you can catch a wonderful singer, do it. Real Life or Second Life® it doesn’t matter. Althea Baxton is worth catching in either place. You’ll not only enjoy her singing but you’ll come away knowing you touched a little greatness. Do it soon.