Search - Cynthia Dall :: Untitled

A record enshrouded in mystery . . . .

Matthew F. Watters | Seattle, WA USA (when in Seattle, please visit my | 04/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This record has one of the most beautiful album covers you'll see--an ornate Chinese painting against an eye-catching chartreuse background--but the artist's name is nowhere to be found anywhere on the cover. And it's difficult to find her name inside, too. Commercial suicide? Deliberate obfuscation? Whatever her motives, Cynthia Dall has made an intriguingly atmospheric record with the simplist of ingredients: some spooky piano or zither, some minimalist guitar or percussion, and some disturbing minor-key songs. Cynthia's rather girlish (and appealing) vocals, and an unpolished production that sounds more like demos than a finished record place this squarely in the indie camp--a good thing in my book. (It is on Drag City, after all.) I would highly recommend this to fans of Lisa Germano, the April March record that April did with Los Cincos, and any other mildly depressed female singer-songwriters. A good listen for a cloudy afternoon. . . . ."

If you ever wished smog had a girl vocalist,

Mock Duck | 10/01/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"this album is for you. I found it pretty boring at times, but I'm not a great Smog fan either. I don't know if the comparison to Lisa Germano is really fair - Germano is much more melody- and texture-driven, whereas Dall's music is extremely spare. What they have in common is a calculated ghostly creepiness. Jim O'Rourke and Bill Callahan (Smog) back Dall up on this. Oh, and the cover really is utterly gorgeous, esp. on vinyl."

Tropical glacier appears, glows at night

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 12/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dall's 1996 album arrived somewhat unheralded, the sort of enigmatically cloaked record-shop curio that an obsessive geek with a few extra dollars might buy just because it's so unclear what it is: no title, no artist... is it Asian? There was no promotion to speak of, no radio play, no tour. What was this beautiful record? Those digging through record bins for something new, something different, those who took the chance, got something simple and beautiful.



Track 4, "Holland," is an excellent example, buzzy treated cellos and beesting guitars buried in the background dissolving into a few piano notes, lyrics suggestive of grace and loss, Bill Callahan's unexpected voice dueting with Dall's at a conversational, confessional pace. In this affecting musical setting, a line like "it's been seven hours and we haven't left the house" takes on more weight than a simple line like this should.



It was an album that took some patience. Was Dall sad? Angry? Resigned? None of the above? "Aaron Matthew" is spare, slow, and cool, yet sizzles with intensity. "I hope I can protect you more in Heaven than I could on Earth," sings Dall. Like the band Low, Cynthia Dall's songwriting constructions are brimming with pop hooks, but they have been slowed down and stretched out to add the most gravity and devastation possible to her stripped bare lyrics.



Jim O'Rourke's production decisions are simple, sensitive, and atmospheric throughout.



Very highly recommended."