Darling Cora Music

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BIOGRAPHY

elevator pitch:

Darling Cora is a Canadian folk-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist with grooving tunes that touch both head and heart. She sounds like the musical love child of Kate Bush, Kaki King, and Jeff Buckley – with Bert Jansch and Don Ross as doting foster uncles.

one paragraph:

Darling Cora is the singer-songwriter project of composer and finger-style guitarist Darlene Cuevas. With a supple voice brimming with soul and grace, thoughtful lyrics, and a unique guitar playing style, her songs capture inner, emotional truths that are often cloaked in sunny grooves and progressive folk rock. Her aim is to prompt listeners into feeling and experiencing the beauty and range of the human condition. She is also known for her sprightly, instrumental guitar tunes.

longer:

Darling Cora is the singer-songwriter project of composer and finger-style guitarist Darlene Cuevas. With a voice oozing soul and grace, thoughtful lyrics, and adept guitar playing, her songs capture emotional truths. Her aim is to prompt listeners into feeling and experiencing the beauty and range of the human condition. She is also known for her sprightly, instrumental guitar compositions.

Born in Toronto to Filipino parents who immigrated to Canada in the early ‘80s, Darlene spent her childhood moving to and from the two countries. Inevitably, she forged an identity in between and apart from both cultures – undeniably Western and yet fully aware of her own difference. Her initial formal studies in English Literature at the University of Toronto showed promise as a budding literary scholar and writer, but because her heart truly lay in music, she dropped out. Immersing herself in classical and “popular” styles of music composition for voice, piano, and guitar, she completed her degree at York University, graduating summa cum laude. In 2012, Cuevas was also awarded the Dr. Peter Zaparinuk Memorial Scholarship for outstanding achievement in contemporary composition.

Darling Cora – Darlene Cuevas – offers a respectful reverence for a wide range of musical traditions, and aspires towards music with a timeless quality. Her debut LP “Heart Strung Out”, a testament to the many shades and subtleties of love for twentysomethings, was released in the summer of 2016 to positive reviews. She has since performed on stages both big and small from coast to coast, and has received airplay on CBC radio and regional folk radio stations across the country. Her second album, “The Spaces Between,” will be released in 2020.

In the past few years, she has taken her finger-style guitar playing to new heights, studying with world class artists Don Ross and Maneli Jamal. She currently has a sponsorship with the SGI Artist Program, and plays a Stonebridge Furch acoustic guitar with Oxygen Duo pickups.

Time to discover Darlene Cuevas – Darling Cora. She's a restless outsider. A refreshing new voice. An emerging guitar presence. An open heart. And part of Canadian music's future.

"The voice of Darling Cora (Darlene Cuevas) has a delicious range, vivid color and a soothing, comforting feel. She sounds like the Mona Lisa, the Rower's Lunch and Nighthawks. Please give her a listen."

--Dave Liljengren, East Portland Blog

"Experimenting with otherworldly sounds concocted from a percussion-based composition and vocal fluctuations, Darling Cora feeds us the spooky, raw inner workings of her mind. Through poetic songwriting and an eerie type of creativity, she releases Heart Strung Out as a confession (and a guidebook) to women everywhere."
-- Savannah Davanzo, Elmore Magazine

"Darling Cora (a.k.a. Darlene Cuevas) has a secret weapon — it’s an impossibly supple voice that conjures the mysteries of the ages. It soars, glides and flutters overhead with the grace and fluidity of birds while deftly accompanied by electric and acoustic guitar and strings with occasional touches of soft percussion that combines the best of classical, folk, jazz and shades of world music visited by exotic gypsies from a bygone era. Her astonishing debut album, Heart Strung Out, is a rich bouillabaisse of all these ingredients, yet the music never upstages her hypnotic vocals. Instead, it complements her beautifully, creating magical settings for her to truly shine."
-- Julie Stoller, Musings from Boston

"A magnificent vocal powerhouse, plucky guitar arrangements and world music rhythms. It’s big, honest and serenely meditative. Darling Cora's first full-length release Heart Strung Out is an indie-folk record with guts. I dare you not to get chills. Think Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon, and even the free-form rhythms of improvised beat poetry, all set to jazz/blues orchestral foundation."

-- Jesse Daly, A Feedback Loop

PRESS PHOTOS

LINKS TO MUSIC

Heart Strung Out LP (2016) 

For a copy of the album for download, please email admin@darlingcoramusic.com

LINKS TO VIDEOS

for new YouTube Music Channel please click here

RECENT PERFORMANCE HISTORY please click here

PRESS ARTICLES and REVIEWS please click here

RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE:  Joni Mitchell, Bert Jansch, Jeff Buckley, Bruce Cockburn, Don Ross, Neko Case, & Bjork.