Dan Reeder [PA] by Dan Reeder (CD, Sep-2004, Oh Boy)
US
$13
Review
For his day job, Dan Reeder is a visual artist who paints imaginative
pictures that incorporate captions such as: "Mr. Brain leads another
doctor professor into the desert where nothing can live." In his spare
time, Reeder makes music -- and I use the word "makes" very literally.
Reeder not only single-handedly wrote and performed the songs on this
CD, but also made the instruments himself, constructed the mixer, and
did the recording. What we get for Reeder's efforts is an album with
three remarkable qualities.
First and foremost, it's a no-frills
affair: Just a guy and his guitar. This puts Reeder's singing and
playing directly in the spotlight, but his straightforward, natural
performing style is completely unaffected by the heat.
Second, by
combining bone-tired blues with dirt-road folk and a slightly raspy
voice, Reeder weaves a musical fabric that sounds like soft, frayed blue
denim. His harmonies help to create an atmosphere that, like the best
American roots music, is mournful and joyful at the same time.
Lastly,
and perhaps most surprisingly, Reeder's album is full of humor, which
is sometimes juvenile, sometimes witty, and sometimes bittersweet. Many
of Reeder's deceptively simple songs take an unflinching look at the
drudgery of life, work and relationships, but they also highlight the
importance of being able to laugh at it and take it in stride.
These
three qualities are not usually combined in a single package, and you
might not necessarily expect them to work together well. In this case,
the combination produces an album that is comfortingly familiar and yet
highly original.
