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Album Review

Dawn Landes
Sweet Heart Rodeo Cooking Vinyl

Article written by James S - Oct 12, 2009

Dawn Landes - Sweet Heart Rodeo

Some artists are proud to wear their influences on their sleeve, and it’s probably fair to surmise from the title of Dawn Landes’ third album, that those sleeves are heavily embroidered. Ostensibly named after the Byrds album which saw new recruit Gram Parsons finally nudge them fully into the world of country-rock, it lasts an uncannily similar 32 minute running time.

Although the brevity and name suggest the Byrds, a more apposite modern comparison would be Zooey Deschanel and M Ward’s She and Him collaboration. Not only is Landes’ voice often reminiscent of the extremely talented actor-cum-singer, but this record follows Deschanel’s lead in encompassing a merry mix of musical styles.

Opener Young Girl is built on a insistent and driving keyboard riff, not unlike Metric, before recent single Romeo throws its cowboy hat into the ring on the back of some rather equine clippety-clop percussion. Clown and Wandering Eye both tell of philandering fools - the former over the kind of perky Bontempi beat that John Shuttleworth would be proud of, and the latter conjuring up the evocative image of Landes’ losing her man to a would-be groupie with “ponytail high, neckline low”.

The sad and softly sung Little Miss Holiday imagines a hypothetical conversation between Jodie Foster and the teenage prostitute who inspired her character in Taxi Driver, and Dance Area is so delicate that the occasional rap of Landes’ knuckle on her acoustic guitar rings out like a bell.

It’s just a shame then that in a record so short, Landes’ also finds time to under-achieve with a couple of numbers. The wishy-washy Brighton is as much of a let-down as the titular town’s beach is to a bucket and spade-wielding toddler, and the all-but-instrumental All Dressed In White sounds more as if it was recorded in sickness than in health. These are the only times that the record gets close to being bull though - for the most part this ‘Rodeo’ is very sweet at heart indeed.

Links:
http://www.dawnlandes.com
http://www.cookingvinyl.com
http://www.myspace.com/dawnlandes