Is this breathy thing a "craze" or is it a way of getting away with not working on the voice? I haven't really de-constructed that many singers/ songs, for me it's a package one either likes or doesn't(words, music, delivery) What I do know is that I started singing when I was eighteen and thirty eight years on I am still learning and practising (use it or lose it). Heaven forbid anyone should de-construct what I do, I think my voice is too thin, too high (ah to be a base baritone)and my breath control fluctuates in quality inversely proportional to my weight which bounces up and down like a yo-yo (more gigs = more beer = more weight - what happened to self discipline!)
What I have learnt over the years, and perhaps only relatively very recently, is how to alter my tone to suit ensemble singing and how tone is an important part of harmonising. Although Ron, Martin and I quite rightly claim that we are "just three blokes that sing in the pub" and also claim that the blend of our voices is quite a fortuitous accident I suspect the reality is that over the years we have trained our ears to find the gaps in the ensemble and fill them. Not scientific just a hunch.
Any way, aren't the breathy singers of the singer/songwriter mode?
Bums on seats will decide who is popular and who is not in the meantime this place will still promote the good (will it not?)
Peter