Washington DC’s Dawn Dineen traces the inspiration for her third album down to a dream she had about her deceased grandmother. Fittingly, ‘The Ghostly Apple Tree’ is a record full of imagination but it also has the kind of cool appeal that seems to elude many singer songwriters. Her singing style is effortless and relaxed, yet clear and resonant, a little like Luscious Jackson’s Jill Cunniff. The comparisons don’t end there either since Dineen’s melodies are of the nagging, melodic variety but with the hip-hop flavour replaced by folk influences.
Even when Dineen uses a cheap jungle noise keyboard sample for ‘Tomboys (You’re Oh So Fine)’, it’s done in a knowing and restrained way. But she really starts coming into her own three tracks in to the recording. On ‘Big Emotion’ her voice enters a natural huskiness that is most becoming, as a grungy hook unravels into a fine chorus. This song is followed by ‘Safely’, a track which coverts a sense of underlying menace beneath the plea of “Show me the way to love you safely” whilst ‘Ladybug’ manages to maintain a beautiful hypnotic melody throughout as Dineen gives vent to her unrequited love for the titular object of her affections. Elsewhere the title track and ‘Seance’ (featuring a recording of Dineen herself as a six-year-old) take on a haunting resonance. Looking towards a prolonged career, ‘Picasso In The Air’ possesses a quirky tunefulness which signals she will come up with interesting ideas for albums in the future. Overall this is an excellent record, full of concise and imaginative little indie pop tunes that has the all-important addictive qualities to make it an album to return to in the future.
Web Sites:
Dawn Dineen Official Site
Dawn Dineen’s MySpace
Also Reviewed:
Alice Lee - Lovers And Losers
Luscious Jackson - Fever In Fever Out
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