Dala Enchants at Natick Center for the Arts
A Standing O From a Sold-out House
By: David Wilson - Nov 22, 2010
Dala Wows A Room Full of Fans At The Natick Center For The Arts
I listened, several times, to a number of Dala’s recordings in preparation to review their concert at the Natick Center for the Arts on Sat night, Nov 20th. The first three cds show promise but it is only with the latest two that the promise begins to come to full fruition.
I tried to analyze their growth process. Each time I came close to understanding, the essence slips away. If forced to commit, I would say that for the first few years they strove to create a sound through the creative harmonies that have become their trademark. Now, with the sound firmly established, they have turned their focus toward singing.
In the course of creating that sound, the soft spots were covered up by filling in the background sound with a number of musical tricks. This is only practical, if at at all on recordings. I could only presume that in live performance, something else was going on to keep the momentum of their careers in full forward.
In truth, it is hard to understand how Dala or any of hundreds of other artists are put, quite unfairly, under the umbrella of folk. Nonetheless it is a fact of the entertainment world and its media and its marketing, and a "folk" audience is now made up of admirers of such. I would go on, but it is a matter for discussion elsewhere, and I would not distract you further from my experience of Dala in live performance.
The Center for the Arts in Natick was packed tight and empty seats were scarce. I was there to see what Dala had in live performance to generate the enthusiasm demonstrated by their fans? What they have is a simple charm and a lovely grace and an entrancing sound.
In performance they present a mix of self-penned tunes and a few classics popularized by established folk and pop artists. One of their latest, "Horses", is garnering attention and I would not be surprised to see covers popping up.
Sheila, the youngest and brunette, seems by far to have the strongest voice and greatest overall range, Amanda, two years older, blonde, seems shyer and more reticent. She does have an uncommon sense of how to overlay her reed thin, higher register voice over her partners melody lines to create an ever changing harmonic sound-scape.
Where their voices overlap in range, they will alternate lyric lines so adroitly that unless you are watching you may not know who is singing the lyric at any given point. The result is that at times their voices flow together entwining in a dynamic variegated harmony with creative phrasing and at other times beat against each other with a compelling and dramatic effect.
My dilemma as a reviewer is in assessing the whole performance. What they do well, they mostly do very well. Sometimes, I thought it went over the top. I specifically felt that way about their elaborate treatment of Joni Mitchell’s "Both Sides Now". It is a song I find better served by a straight-forward unadorned delivery.
As for being entertainers, the evidence is clear. The standing ovation from a sold-out house shouts their success. For me the glaring lack of the performance is in their instrumental skills as demonstrated in their presentation. Enthusiastically strummed simple chords and a rare and limited plucking of a few notes, and for a few pieces, simple melodies played on the piano are far below the expectations I have come to have for equivalent performers.
One of my inner voices recognizes the unfairness of this evaluation. Do we criticize Edith Piaf, Bessie Smith or Beverly Sills for not adroitly accompanying themselves? Clearly not, but, on the other hand none of them would appear in performance without suitable accompaniment.
A few days before this engagement, Compass Records announced that Dala would join their roster of artists and Compass would be distributing their latest CD, Everyone is Someone, in the US.
So I find a great deal to appreciate about these young, charming and quirky ladies. When I compare recorded performances to live, I conclude that they would benefit extremely if partnered with a musician or musicians to whom they could leave the accompaniment, and do what they do best, sing their hearts out…