Danielle Nicole: Cry No More Review
Danielle Nicole delights fans with her second album Cry No More. This is an album that is clearly within the same realm as her debut album Wolf Den, and yet there is significantly more risk taking and growth.
Danielle Nicole’s vocals lend themselves fully to blues. Her tone is rich, full, warm, raw, and can be likened to the incredible vocals of Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt. Even so, she has a sound all her own. Her range is notable,impressive, and only serves to add emotional elements to the songs.
The arrangements in this album are striking. There is such care taken with the production and by the instrumentalists to not over play. Many songs on this album contain vocal verses that are accompanied by a bass primarily, with some light accents by a doubling guitar line, or by a sparse piano. A beautiful example of exactly this is in “Hot Spell.” In this tune, the bass and guitar are consistently taking turns to support the vocal, and are accented by an out of tune piano with a strong and unusual character that plays both infrequent chords, and melodic lines of its own.
The lyrics in this album classify Cry No More even further within the blues genre. They serve to take the listener through a definitive narrative. A prime example of this happens with the opening tune “Crawl”. This is a song that immediately evokes elements of the Allman Brothers sonically. In the content of these lyrics as well as the overall energy, this song could easily be written as a response song to Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House.”
Though this album is fully blues, “Bobby” strays from a rigid genre momentarily, and is vastly different than the other songs on this album. The general tone is sweeter, and has a mellow country attitude to it. The melodic lines that Danielle Nicole reaches in this song are unique, unexpected, and breathtakingly beautiful. Though up until this point on the album the songs had been intense, engaging, and exciting, “Bobby’s” lightness and flowing melodies are certainly interesting comparatively.
Danielle Nicole is a captivating artist with a new take on a familiar genre. The artists that influence her are seen in her work in a fresh and exciting way. She is definitely a musician to keep an eye out for.
The Review: 8/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Cry No More
– I’m Going Home
– Baby Eyes
– Burnin’ For You
– Bobby
The Big Hit
– Bobby
Review by Alexandra Veltri
