private cdr
Diane Cluck : Oh Vanille / Ova Nil (US,2003)****°
-> later published on CD by Important! Records
Wow ! -Listening to Diana reminded me of some thought I had lately, when I heard in a public place a well produced track of pop music with all elements there : orchestrated, electronica, voice ; besides this, it was also completely empty inside. I wondered then why some people can’t hear the difference, and why such examples are heard so often on national radio stations. Perhaps real content is too confronting for most people. Well, if you want to know about this item : I am convinced THIS is the real thing, because every voice variation and fluctuation here sounds like it really has its equally/parallel emotional value. Every detail here has the power of its inspiration (example : "1/2 million miles from home" (or here) . Most tracks are guitar and voice only. Only “Easy to be around” (ram or MP3) and "Petite Roses" has some additional voice arrangements. A shame I listen so intuitively to music myself, and a bit more with emotions, that I can hardly ever say much about the words on their own..
Highly recommended !! For me it is amongst the better s/sw releases of last years ! It deserves an official release and wide appreciation. At least I hope that those who look for the "real" thing will discover her.
Other Music : "We've had this album in since last March and it just about slipped under the radar. We get tons and tons of consignment CDs and some excitingly turn out to be hits as I'm sure Diane Cluck's Oh Vanille will be. Daniel played it on a recommendation last week and we were all pretty struck by her songs. We kept playing it throughout the week and it really seemed to resonate with customers as well. It's fairly rare that we sell a record every single time we put it on in the store.
From what I understand, Diane Cluck has been kicking around the New York folk scene for a few years now. Oh Vanille appears to be the fourth in a series of handmade self-released CD-Rs; this one is packaged in construction paper bound with masking tape and the song titles were charmingly filled in with a ballpoint pen. She's been associated with the anti-folk scene, but also championed by Devendra Banhart who's publicly expressed some antipathy to that movement, so she must be doing something right.
Eleven low-key but emotionally intense and gently rhythmical songs are performed almost solely with her excellently played acoustic guitar and voice. On "Easy to Be Around" she uses her multi-tracked vocals to brilliant effect, singing of diamonds in coal mines and infinite nights in a self-made chorus full of both air and gravity. It's probably one of the best songs I've heard all year. Her songs have an irregular, or even cellular, logic that I'm still attempting to sort out, but perhaps that is exactly what makes Oh Vanille such a compelling listen. Highly recommended. [MK]
"This record is by my favorite singer-songwriter in all of New York City. I'm so happy to be alive at the same time she is because I get to see her perform. It's her and guitar or her and piano or her and harmonium. Her lyrics are so good, when I play this for people they stop doing everything and are quiet for hours after.' Devendra Banhart.
Forced Exposure : "Diane Cluck's hauntingly clear voice weaves melodies full of love and pain through her intentionally sparse arrangements of piano, acoustic guitar and harmonium. Perfect as they are, any additional instrumentation would be unnecessary adornments on these 'skeleton' songs, as she calls them. A classical training and obsession with Erik Satie has instilled a tasteful minimalism. Her recordings have been self released until now in a fashion similar to the manner in which she records them: deliberate, hesitant and beautiful."
