Album Review - Casey Dienel - Wind-Up Canary

There are a lot of famous musical artists (eg, Britney Spears) who aren’t half as talented as the millions of unrecognized, brilliant musicians out there. So, in a completely fair world, a lot of these much-publicized people should be singing Karaoke at their family members’ weddings instead of selling out arenas. Anyone who thinks only talented people become famous should see Keanu Reeves try his hand at Shakespeare.

Bearing all this in mind, the 20-year old Casey Dienel recorded “Wind-Up Canary” while she was a student at the famed New England Conservatory. While most alumni of NEC transition into performing Mozart and Brahms at places like Carnegie Hall, Casey has chosen to try her hand playing jazz-laced rock music at places like The Applesauce Treehouse and the Gone Wired Café.

“Wind-Up Canary” is Deinel’s first attempt at recording, crafted with friends in an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of her native Boston. One of Deinel’s friends decided to send the session to tiny-but-mighty Hush Records, and the rest is history. Deinel is currently voyaging across the country, positive press sparkling in her wake.

Equal parts Cole Porter, legendary French cabaret chanteuse Edith Pilaf and The Talking Heads, Deinel’s music supports the idea of the American melting pot we all keep hearing about. Dienel is clearly at home tickling her piano keys. “When I was only four I found my lonely ivories / and we became fast friends,” she sings on “Everything”. She’s made the piano her own personal music box, cranking out whimsical melodies with subtly syncopated rhythms for emphasis. Her equally impressive and flighty vocals waft around the musical register like sheet music being blown about by a drafty open window.

The record revels in its intimacy, revealing its amateur tendencies via the slightly out-of-tune piano, generally low-fidelity vocals and a drum kit that sounds like it’s about to fall apart. “I want my record to sound like you’re sitting in a living room with all of your friends and the fire is crackling,” Dienel said in an interview with Northeast Performer Magazine. This is far from the sterile laboratory-like environments that most pop music is recorded in, and the result is something that’s very candid. It’s easy to imagine Deinel playing in a creaky old house to an audience of oddball music students and field mice.

As a fellow 20-year old, it’s exciting to see someone so close to my age producing something that’s so pointedly original. Especially as something that originated as “drunken dare”, “Wind-Up Canary” smacks of greatness. If Dienel can transfer her small-setting act to the big stage, and tighten up her tendency to sing about nonsense, she is a just a record deal away from being the next Norah Jones. That is, if she wants to share so-called “fame” with the Britney Spearses of the world. She has good reason to be quite confident either way.

A promising new Columbus artist...

Arnie himself has thrown his hat into the musical ring.

It's on.

The Governators

Eric Metronome on USA Today online

Yeah yeah I know I haven't updated in awhile. I will never get regular readers. Something the internet is supposed to offer is immediate journalism, multiple updates a day. Hopefully this will happen someday. Hopefully there is enough music news that I feel merits multiple updates.

That's right, blame the world, not my own personal distractions/apathy.

Anyway, Mr. Metronome of Tiara/Sunken Treasure Records got a little plug on the USA Today online Pop blog.

It's a quick, stupid little blurb, but it's a blurb! Congratulations, Eric. It's only a matter of time when you do gimmicky/ambitious things that people notice.

- Each week this year, Ohio singer/songwriter Eric Metronome has been posting a new cover song on his website. This week's cover is a version of Pat Benatar's Invincible, and it's actually pretty good! Thanks to Pop reader Tim A. for the tip.

I won't even bother. Sheesh.

See for yourself.