 |
Dana Falconberry’s new album, Hallets, is a case in point of sometimes taking a step backwards to find the best route forwards. Though Hallets officially serves as the local songwriter’s sophomore full length, it is essentially a revision and reworking of material from her 2008 debut LP, Oh Skies of Grey. That album attempted to bolster Falconberry’s delicate folks sound with strong backing percussion and moments of fuzzed electric guitar, a reach from her familiar acoustic and harmony-based style that has made her one of Austin’s most promising young voices. While Skies’ more aggressively produced style worked well at times, it was also a somewhat misdirected introduction of a debut in that it diverged greatly from the very essence of Falconberry’s songs as they had become popular locally. Hallets is an attempt to reset that starting point, an LP much more in line with the songstress’ stunning 2006 debut EP, Paper Sailboat.
Though Hallets only offers two new songs from Falconberry, it’s the re-recordings that make the album so rewarding. The opening “Blue Umbrella” eschews the distracting production of its counterpart from Oh Skies of Grey, allowing Falconberry’s voice to shine atop the gentle aluminum-can clicks of percussion and swell into the perfectly matched harmonies of Gina Dvorak and Lauren McMurray. Likewise, the remake of “Singing Lullabies” lets Falconberry unfold the comforting death ode with a simple beauty: “My children came and laid me on my bed, and the papers said the people cried, and the pastor read words that Jesus said, but nobody knows I was singing when I died. And I was peaceful, yeah I said all my goodbyes. And I was happy. I was singing lullabies.” The tune brings the strengths of both her detailed songwriting and enchanting, slightly clipped and twanged vocals to the fore,
The two new recordings on the album, “Nightingale” and “Anna Marie,” capture Falconberry at her most alluring poles. “Nightingale” swoons with a soft and poignant lull, steeped in a weary melancholy that is shaded by the low moan of Andrew Bergmann’s upright bass. “Anna Marie,” on the other hand, licks an acoustic blues, with the song perhaps serving as an allusional counter to the gorgeously lovelorn title track from Paper Sailboat as Falconberry opens with “That old sailboat did me no good, though I sailed the best I could. She’s a strong one, that Anna Marie. With a heart like a hurricane, she swept me out to see.”
Among the other reworked tunes on the album, the change in vocal inflections on “Clementine” is interesting. The song is presented much less wearily on Halletts, now feeling more contemplative and the light harmonies rising up the chorus of “Everything about me was fine, It was heaven, sweet Clementine” shying away from the resignation of memory to project an easier reflection. The jazz-tinged percussion and arrangement that marked “Satin Dress” on Skies was more intriguing, yet the straightforward performance on the new album raises Falconberry’s smokier vocal turn much more clearly to the front. When played together, it’s clear that the production of the new album is simply much crisper and effective, giving Falconberry’s voice the highlighting it deserves.
Like her familiar thrift store dresses and worn cowboy boots, there is a timeless quality to Dana Falconberry’s songs. There’s a touch Emmylou Harris in her combination of subtle grace and uncompromising power. While Hallets may present Falconberry retreading older material, the songs possess a clarity of both vision and sound that was buried on her first album. Hallets settles the songwriter back onto the ground where she is most comfortable, and will hopefully finally garner her the attention beyond Austin that she deserves.
Mp3 from Halletts:
Nightingale
Websites:
www.danafalconberry.com
Myspace
