Singer-songwriter Jennifer Daniels is back with her second full-length CD, Dive & Fly. With her unique brand of edgy folk, Daniels takes her craft to yet another level, with a more fleshed out sound than her previous efforts.
Dive & Fly is an album about hopes and dreams, about reaching out for more than just our everyday, mundane lives. Daniels speaks for all of us when she talks about the "feeling that we're made for more than we get." She says the album also explores the grief that goes along with her "loneliness and unfaithfulness."
For those unfamiliar with Daniels and her music, she can best be compared to artists as diverse as Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega, and Sarah McLachlan. In fact, it is her voice that is the most impressive instrument on the disc. She has amazing vocal range, both smooth and powerful, that matches up nicely with her well-crafted and literate lyric arrangements.
The album starts out with the Celtic-flavored title track, one of the more impressive songs on the disc. This is followed by the near-anthemic "Ohio," which first appeared on her last full-length disc, Fists of Flood. These are followed by several more traditional "folk" songs, "Planting Shoes" and "Babylon."
Other songs that stand out are "Daylight Running," "He Dances," and "Day to Live." ("Day to Live" and another song, "Widening Sky" were originally done on the EP An Invitation.) A touching moment comes with "Try to Find Me," a song about attempted reconciliation within a strained father/daughter relationship. The album then wraps up with a "hidden" track," an a cappella version of the traditional Irish folk song "Danny Boy."
For this listener, the strongest moments on this disc are the more upbeat, full-band tunes, but the quieter, more acoustic efforts are sure to please fans of that style of music as well.
And if you check out the liner notes you'll appreciate some of the musicians who show up on the album. Former Vigilantes of Love members Newton Carter and Dave LaBruyere lend a hand, while Daniels' husband, Jeff Neal, weighs in with guitars and mandolin.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Olin JenkinsWho is Jennifer Daniels? She's a modern-day folk singer-songwriter who hails from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. I don't think I've seen a regional singer and songwriter who is as honest with a lyrical and musical style since a concert I saw by the Pozo Seco Singers (giving away my age with that comment!) in the mid-'60s. I've seen her in concert twice in Columbia, South Carolina, with her…
