Reviews
Review - Minor 7th - Big Dream Boulevard (June 2006)
Antje Duvekot, "Big Dream Boulevard," Black Wolf Records BW 006, 2006
Antje Duvekot's first true studio album -- with high-powered producer Seamus Egan of Solas and vocal support from her mentor, Ellis Paul -- takes the listener on a journey through "the uncharted country out on ecstasy's borders." There, Duvekot serves up wisdom beyond her years, a knack for metaphor, an angelic voice, and great melodies. She merges them with a radio-ready sensibility and makes a strong bid for national recognition. Duvekot is unique: a disarming, talented performer and a songwriter with awesome range and a poet's command of language. "Dandelion," is a bouncy, winsome-yet-poignant, pop-inflected tale of unrequited love (produced by Boston's Flynn, who also produced Ellis Paul's latest). The stirring "Jerusalem," paints a portrait of the land where "peace is a term that is relative" and "scars are as deep as the rivers and as old as the land." "Anna," a longtime Duvekot staple, presents two character studies simultaneously: an Alzheimer's victim losing her fight against the disease in which she is losing herself ("It's like someone's built a wall and through the very last cracks Anna extends her hand") and her granddaughter, who urges Anna to "tell your bones not to let go" at the same time she recognizes that "your heart is beating slowly now." "Helpless Kiss" has a chorus as hard to resist as the "helpless kiss" that leaves the speaker "rudderless" and asking "how do you intend to unbreak this?" "Diamond on Your Hand" keeps playing in a loop through my head, though it may finally stop "at the end of the, end of the, end of the day." Egan and Duvekot uncoil "Sex Bandaid" out of an ominous, hushed beginning (featuring Duvekot's whisper and Kevin Hansen's atmospheric electric) until pure desire rises ("you light me like a candle with the sugar in your mouth") leading to an unsettling climax ("it's just a little blood. Just a little flood, flood, flood"). There is only one place on earth you can find songs this powerful and this listenable... "Big Dream Boulevard."
© David Kleiner
Antje Duvekot's first true studio album -- with high-powered producer Seamus Egan of Solas and vocal support from her mentor, Ellis Paul -- takes the listener on a journey through "the uncharted country out on ecstasy's borders." There, Duvekot serves up wisdom beyond her years, a knack for metaphor, an angelic voice, and great melodies. She merges them with a radio-ready sensibility and makes a strong bid for national recognition. Duvekot is unique: a disarming, talented performer and a songwriter with awesome range and a poet's command of language. "Dandelion," is a bouncy, winsome-yet-poignant, pop-inflected tale of unrequited love (produced by Boston's Flynn, who also produced Ellis Paul's latest). The stirring "Jerusalem," paints a portrait of the land where "peace is a term that is relative" and "scars are as deep as the rivers and as old as the land." "Anna," a longtime Duvekot staple, presents two character studies simultaneously: an Alzheimer's victim losing her fight against the disease in which she is losing herself ("It's like someone's built a wall and through the very last cracks Anna extends her hand") and her granddaughter, who urges Anna to "tell your bones not to let go" at the same time she recognizes that "your heart is beating slowly now." "Helpless Kiss" has a chorus as hard to resist as the "helpless kiss" that leaves the speaker "rudderless" and asking "how do you intend to unbreak this?" "Diamond on Your Hand" keeps playing in a loop through my head, though it may finally stop "at the end of the, end of the, end of the day." Egan and Duvekot uncoil "Sex Bandaid" out of an ominous, hushed beginning (featuring Duvekot's whisper and Kevin Hansen's atmospheric electric) until pure desire rises ("you light me like a candle with the sugar in your mouth") leading to an unsettling climax ("it's just a little blood. Just a little flood, flood, flood"). There is only one place on earth you can find songs this powerful and this listenable... "Big Dream Boulevard."
© David Kleiner