Danielle Fricke: Moon

[Benjamin A. Vazquez U.E.]

Moon

Artist: Danielle Fricke
Album: Moon
Year: 2016
CD#: XXXXX
Canadian? Yes
Best Tracks: #1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #10
Comments Overall: Haunting, repetitive, enthralling, deep and echoing, ambient, "for all who inspire me to stay awake"

1. Tenterhooks, 2:59 - Begins with quiet musical lights in the darkness, smooths out into a rising melody, beautiful, fades away
2. Moon, 3:43 - Begins with waves, deep and slow, "let me be your moon", a woman and her guitar, fades out at the end
3. The Well, 4:38 - Surreal, haunting, possibly the best track on the album, dreaming of a man in a bizzare way, slow, echoing, suddenly clears up at the end, "I'll find the heat of your hands and the taste of your throat"
4. Yours Till The Ocean, 4:05 - Begins slowly, rhythmic beats, quiet and mechanical in the middle
5. Dizzy, 3:36 - Begins slowly, "make me dizzy, take me in, slow it down, quietly", loving, deep and calm, echoing, dizzying, especially at the end, fades away
6. Cicadas, 2:17 - Slow, deep, echoing, heartwrenching, fades out very slowly at the end
7. Grey, 4:31 - Quiet at the beginning, a bird calling out in the background, rises very slowly, probably too slowly for radio play, powerful two minutes in, fades away
8. Heirloom, 1:50 - Begins quietly, the ticking of a clock, mechanical, dripping, fades out
9. Maisy, 3:14 - Begins with harsh noises, whispering voices, bizzare echoes, surreal, dies away suddenlyat 2:48, emerges again after ten seconds, deep and dark on the other side, fades away
10. Mourning Dove, 4:50 - Quiet, calm, mesmirizing and hypnotic, fades away, cuts out abruptly followed by six seconds of near silence
11. Rabbit, 4:55 - Fades in, crowded but clears up suddenly around 0:50, fades in and out, "say you hate your rabbit", a bit chaotic at the end

Note: This is under "Indie" for lack of a better option. If we create an "Ambient" category for the board this will go over there.

Website: danielle-fricke.com/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/daniellefricke
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/frickedanielle
Bandcamp: daniellefricke.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/danielle-fricke-135040486784/
Twitter: twitter.com/frickedanielle?lang=en

[Benjamin A. Vazquez U.E.]

Imagine a quiet, empty room. A window overlooks an empty street. A record player lies in the corner of the room, crackling sofly. Silence pervades for a moment, but then the record player comes slowly, gradually to life. Each note lovingly selected, drawn out, echoing as it grows to fill the space, then slowly fading away, musical layers played gently upon musical layers. The silence doesn't feel broken. Rather, it feels fulfilled, brought into itself. If feels like this is what silence was supposed to sound like all along.

That is the closest I can get to sharing what it feels like to listen to "Moon", Danielle Fricke's latest record. Once one-third of the musical trio Snow Mantled Loved, Danielle Fricke has gone on to create incredibly moving solo works.

"Moon" speaks to me of quiet longings and profound hopes. It echoes of people and moments long gone, and even more of people and moments who never were, but might have been. It is, it's true, tinged with sadness around the edges, like photographs of childhood friends you haven't seen in a decade or walking among ruins of English monasteries, but in the end you don't feel sad. Because in speaking to things done well in the past, it affords the promise of things done well in the future. And in the interim it presents a masterpiece to lose yourself in.