Delmore Rec.
Diana Darby : Fantasia Ball (US,2003)**°°
Personally I mostly prefer timid expressions above ego-driven vocals being thrown into your face. Diana’s whispery, somewhat hushed voice, and quiet, amplified and acoustic, depressing strummed guitar(s), some handpercussion instruments, shows such an intimate, somewhat lonely world with a window-vision, with the feeling of an underlying broken world-vision, or at least a kind of shy sadness, watching all, and waiting for something better to appear. The performances themselves are balanced and heartfelt enough to become expressions as a kind of art-form of moods in music. Still, some feeling remains, with a vulnarability as if this comes partly from someone with fear of growing up, and becoming someone in this (particular) world. It leaves the conceptual emotions from within the moods themself somewhat unfinished, with a kind of participating underlying unfullfillment, not to be healed so easily, without a longer process of approaching and becoming closer towards everything..
Diana Darby was on tour in Europe. I managed to get her for a small gig in Antwerp. There I could see how she could make the public silence as a mouse, as almost hypnotized. Her minimal soft strumming and, repetition of poetic lines gives her music something special atmosphere, which seemed also to be very apreciated in public.
PS. She told me her privately released tour CDR, "Last Words to the Planet" (2004)**** were mainly rough ideas, but I must say it really listens as a perfect CD. And, combined with her poet book also all texts come over very strong, within a minimalism into the expressions.
