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“You can’t come any closer till you know what you’re ready for” Danielle Duval tells you by the second song of her sophomore album Of the Valley . Then in a high-paced alt-rock following track “Day Becomes Night” the fast rhythm guitar and fuzzy lead keep pace with her very interesting vocal lines. Is it folk-pop? Is it a less suicidal Melissa Etheridge?
Duval certainly has the same level of lyrical talent using tasty word-bites like: “When the day breaks night into dust” “I bought a ticket at the wicket in the market of kings and thieves” and “Ambulance I’ve got a mind emergency” all the while using the guitars she plays to create a rhythmic foundation that leads the drums and somewhat conventional instrumentation in ways that one doesn’t normally hear. Especially interesting and effective are the harmonies that lead many songs and with “Sundowner” she’s created such a toe-tapping down-to-earth alt-pop hit it’s sure to be in the next iPad commercial. Watch out Feist!
But even though the acoustic guitar and honky-tonk piano build a folk-rock shuffle in “Imposter” the rhythmic underpinnings of other songs like the funky “Ambulance” or the opening rock-out “Control” keep the music extremely engaging and individual. The touches of back-masked guitar and sci-fi sound effects don’t hurt either.
