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Denali
The Instinct
Jade Tree
Release Date: October 28th, 2003
I have to admit, I'm one of those people who are always skeptical to sophomore albums - always anxiously await them, but not often finding them to be well-executed. The Instinct is proving me wrong. I like this album more, each time I hear it. It represents the natural progression from their astounding self-titled debut.
The second and third tracks ("Surface" & "Run Through") blow my mind. What I think to be their singles, are sexy, dramatic, and contain slightest touch of pop. There are some incredibly haunting and slow warp-vibrato tracks like "Nullaby," with a choral moaning in the background slowly sliding out of hearing range - like a crazy slow-motion scene. "Do Something" with its mantra-like chanting, and its heavy giant stomping bass - "all I am now… fall for a way down…all I am now…fall for a way down" - is sexy, full and fat. A Spanish flavored track - "Normal Days" - grabs and pushes. The Instinct is a pretty intense album - different from the fragility of the last album - more developed, older, more up than down, more complex, and not as easy as their first album.
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LIVE SHOW REVIEW
Denali Live
October 2, 2003 Mercury Lounge, NYC
Having had the pleasure of catching them play with Rainer Maria at Mercury Lounge, I saw just how Maura Davis hit every amazing note in her indie-operatic vocal range. Maura's voice tears me apart; how can such a powerful, honey, slippery angel voice come out of the smallest frame I have ever seen? The new album sounds JUST LIKE THEY DO LIVE and that is to say, they sounded amazing. Read that twice and note that I didn't say *they* sound like the album. The cohesive foursome played to a confused and slightly (in my opinion) sedate crowd - a sort of stare-at-your-toes crowd. I'm not sure if one attributes that to the set consisting of more new tunes, or if the crowd was just really, really high. I'm gonna opt for the latter. A good show reaffirms your love for a band, makes you wanna buy t-shirts, posters, the CD, the cassette AND the vinyl. Makes you wanna listen to them on the way home, talk about them all the way home. Let's just say…I cannot stop listening to the album.
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-- Cynthia Wang
cynthia@outersound.com
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