When I first saw Diane Birch in 2010, my first impression was that she is a hybrid of Pattie Smith and Diane Keaton who tries to play the piano as emotionally as Tori Amos from Cornflake Girl phase. Her vocal interpretation sounds like Norah Jones and Joni Mitchell duet. Take this review as a throwback investigation which Diane Birch were we encountering the most on her debut Bible Belt.
After the audio-visual expressions of the girl with numerous hats, many were remembered of the lyrics from The Rolling Stone’s Out of Time. During the second listen of the album, we were all aware that things are a bit more complicated than that.
Growing up with rigid, authoritative parents on a relation South Africa-Australia, Diane spent her teenage days in the company of imaginary friends listening to the church music and opera, and playing the classical music repertoire. The expected continuation of her biography forms when she moved to Portland and started discovering popular music (The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Christian Death, The Sisters of Mercy, etc.). Rebellion against religion begun.
Following popular music lessons came from the trips to London and Los Angeles where she tried to pursue her music career. She was also intrigued by the sound of 70s pop, soul, jazz and blues.
Back in 2010, Diane left an impression of a girl who is a high quality poet with affectionate vocal that allows her to stand on her own, no matter the impressive list of producers (Steve Greenberg, Betty White, Mike Mangini, Lenny Kaye, Adam Blackstone, Cindy Blackman). In my opinion, they were only responsible for the final touches.
Religious imaginarium and fictional version of diverse life experience presented Diane as a witty author. Although there were moments of emphasized vulnerability and commercial aspirations, Birch did not substitute her artistic persona for a pop star persona.
Mediocre lyrics are justified with Diane’s conflict with family and religious background. Still, when she sings about love relationships and identity crisis, we were able to observe that this is an artist who posses a respectable dose of creativity.
Fire Escape opens the debut in a manner of Wild Horses. Two songs were dedicated to imaginary friends – cheerful pop-soul Valentino and melancholic pop Ariel. Similar vibe was on Mirror Mirror and Magic View. The most complex song was definitely Photograph, fused with incredible gospel choir. Another pearl in the collection is Forgiveness, a soul-gospel doppelganger of Cohen’s Hallelujah. Fools and Don’t Wait Up resemble Carole King, both in vocal interpretation and piano sections.
Bible Belt was a debut that did a great job of balancing heterogeneous influences, from Bach and Handel to Motown and Memphis sounds.
