Drew Danburry "Mother" (Independent 2008)

Open your heart to the kindness of musical strangers

Drew Danburry is nothing if not unique, his music being genuinely beyond categorisation; kind of folk-pop but with enough different things going in - sometimes before you even press play on the track thanks to the elaborate song titles - that the songs, full of ambient background noises and twiddles, keep you involved time and time again even on the nineteenth listen. “Mother” is his latest collection of songs – more than an EP and less than an album – and Danburry continues the quality of his last set, melding together hushed whispered lyrics with sudden instances of words virtually shouted from the top of his voice (well, sung from the top of his voice) with a passion that belies the quirkiness of the songs. And what songs they are – from the hair raising chord changes of “Vulnerability as Power...” (“I’m not the boy you take home to your dear mother” – actually mine’d probably be really impressed) to the joyous bond of whistling and pans on “Mother is a Song by Danzig Not By Me” (you get the idea) to the distant americana fuzz of “Tonight I Was Trying..” (this song title basically turns into a short essay) What can’t be stressed enough though is that this isn’t a kind of contrived Weezer quirkiness that quickly dissipates into irritability – there’s so much warmth and genuine feeling in Danburry’s songs that you’d need a thick skin to not be touched by them. They make you feel good to be alive, connected with the world, and you can’t ask for more than that from music.

Date review added:  Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Reviewer:  Mark Whitfield
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  Artist Website