Search - Dayna Kurtz :: Another Black Feather

Dayna Kurtz = Uncommon Music

Colin Spence | Formby, UK | 04/13/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These days, I find myself buying more and more music by artists that I've never heard of - my latest 'discovery' is this album by American singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz.



Before buying it, I also checked the samples from 2 earlier albums - these have something of a late-night blues/cabaret-jazz feel to them. By contrast, 'Another Black Feather' has a quite a different focus - it contains music which I'd describe as 'darkly opulent folk-americana'. Only 2 songs, 'All Over Again' and 'Hope She'll Be Happier', have much in common with the music on those earlier albums; they are the only covers of songs written by other artists (Johnny Cash and Bill Withers respectively) - the remaining songs are written by Dayna (1 co-written).





As singer-songwriter albums go, there is little which is conventional about the music on this album (or any of her others, I would imagine) :



THE VOCALS - Dayna possesses a husky, brooding alto (Annie Lennox immediately springs to mind) which can send both shivers up your spine and shards through your synapses. She often starts a song with a soft delivery but then switches to a much edgier style, and during the latter part of 'It's The Day of Atonement 2001', she almost snarls the lyrics. Many of the songs feature harmony/backing vocals to lend extra texture to the music, including low-key contributions on 2 songs from purveyor of gravelly backwoods folk-blues, Malcolm Holcombe



THE SONGS - Dayna's own songs are melodramatic and centred around themes of personal nostalgia. Her lyrics are high on emotion, evocative, introspective, occasionally mildly erotic ('Another Black Feather'), and even surreal ('Venezuela'); also, they are often unpredictable, giving rise to a change of mood within some of the songs (sometimes accompanied by a change in tempo also). The opening track, 'From The Bottom Up', which combines rapid handclaps with disembodied backing vocals, gives a foretaste of the unorthodox nature of the music; however, it is not especially representative - in fact, no single song is representative of the album as a whole.



THE PLAYING - On most songs, Dayna accompanies herself on guitar (acoustic/acoustic slide and lap steel), also banjo on the folksy 'Banks of The Edisto'; her session musicians (bass, keyboards, accordion, drums/percussion) and vocalists demonstrate an uncanny empathy with the shifting moods and tempos of (and within) each song. On 'It's The Day of Atonement 2001' she is accompanied by a klezmer band (accordion, trumpet, clarinet), and 'The Miracle' features cello and violin.





Despite Dayna's somewhat non-conformist approach to her music, many of the songs are fairly accessible (but just a few, I found less so); also, I think her music has a slight 'arty' veneer which, together with the 'rootsy' nature of much of the music, makes for an unusual and interesting musical combination. If you like talented singer-songwriters whose music is some distance away from the mainstream, more complex than the norm, and even a little 'odd' at times, then check out Dayna Kurtz; otherwise, you could be missing out on something special - artists like this don't grow on trees. I enjoyed most of this album - it's interesting and different.

"

Another Feather in Dayna's ever-growing Cap

Wayne E. Manning | Auburn, CA USA | 01/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album might well have been called "A Different Drummer," illustrating Dayna's wide-ranging, off-beat, compelling talent. I don't ordinarily consider myself a "fan" in the popular sense of the word, but in this case I am unabashedly a fan of Dayna Kurtz and her unique take on life and the world as expressed in her music.



This is a ten-star collection in a five-star rating system.



Wayne Manning

Auburn, CA"