Published on Jan 22, 2001
As I write this review, it’s 11 p.m. in Chicago – I’m officially
past deadline for the site. (Nothing unusual for me… fortunately,
I’m on a first-name basis with the boss.) I’m exhausted, and am
desparately jonesing for the bottle of ginger ale chilling in the
fridge below. I’ve also been fighting a migraine all day, and am in
a bear of a mood. Normally, this means the reader is in for a
review which makes the hunting scenes on The Discovery Channel look
like the typical violence in a Tom & Jerry cartoon.
But, no, not tonight. Something has soothed my savage breast,
and his name is Daniel Simonis. His self-titled CD is a mixture of
alternative, pop and country that has a few weak moments, but
otherwise suggests that something wonderful will be coming from
this young man very soon.
To call Simonis country is a bit narrow in definition. You can
hear his Ohio farmboy roots in some of his work, yet you can also
hear how his time in New York helped to forge his music into
something exquisite and unique. Admittedly, there still needs to be
some work done to the final product to hone down the sharp edges
and buff away some of the dull lustre. But the basic root of
Simonis’s music is there, and it runs deep.
Take the second song, “Long Way Down,” for starters. With a
tinge of country in it, this track also has a strong hook and
infectious style about it. It kind of makes me think of what
Matthew Sweet would be creating if he had more of a roots-rock
approach to his music instead of retro-’70s kitsch. Simonis and his
rotating band of musicians prove that you don’t need to have
everything cranked up on the amps to show the true power of the
music.
That musical magic often shows itself on
Daniel Simonis, especially on tracks like “So Much For
Plans,” “Another Delay,” “Pretend” and “Spaceship”. If these tracks
are any indication of what Simonis is capable of, then we could be
looking at one of the artists who will help to spearhead the next
folk explosion.
Yet Simonis does occasionally show that he’s still maturing as a
musician. “Chasing Down The Sun” is not the strongest way that he
could have opened the album. “Someone To Sleep With” has some
incredibly beautiful moments, but there are some areas of the song
where it feels like Simonis is trying to stretch his vocals a
little bit higher than they should. (The track is also a little
sleepy, though it does have its moments.)
Maybe the one criticism I could level against Simonis is that it
sometimes feels like he’s trying too hard. Stylistically, he does
tend to jump around a bit, almost as if he wanted to show people he
could adapt to different genres. Sometimes, it’s hard for the
listener to keep making those shifts in equilibrium, and
occasionally Simonis’s musical message tends to get lost while that
shift is being made. My advice: stick with two or three changes in
style, and use them sparingly. On future albums, he could do more
experimenting.
Still,
Daniel Simonis is a relatively strong statement on a first
outing, and shows that if he’s given the right notice, Simonis is
an artist we’ll be hearing a lot about very soon.
2001 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault”. All rights
reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
written permission.