Album Notes

Hi there! Why not buy my CDs, "Red" and "Drifting in Circles," as "$5 Specials"? Support indie artists and discover some new music that otherwise you might not hear. Click "Add to cart" above for details. Cheers! Dafni

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My latest CD, "Drifting in Circles," is also for sale here at CD Baby. It's a warm, intimate, eclectic mix of 12 melodic folky, jazzy, pop songs that I recorded professionally in a real studio with my band [guitars (acoustic, electric, banjo, dobro), piano, accordion, trumpet, bass, drums, percussion]. Check it out at:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dafni2
(just change "dafni" in the URL window to "dafni2")

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Here is a bit of info about each of the songs on "Red":

Control. "You knew me before I was someone/Not the same as being perfect/And I can never tell you why." This song is about being in a controlling relationship that you don't want to be a part of anymore. Believe it or not, for the guitar sound on this track I was inspired by Mick Harvey's frenetic strumming on the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song, "Papa won't leave you, Henry."

Happy Day. "Please look at me/I know you have it in you/Come sit beside me/Forgetting all we have to hide." I wrote this song during the weeks leading up to the current Gulf war. You probably couldn't tell from hearing the lyrics, but my motivation behind the words was an image that I had in my head of Mr Bush and Mr Hussein sitting side-by-side on a sofa, drinking tea, and sorting out their problems in a civilized manner.

Save my dreams. "Constantly try to find my place in line/My friends they're all running fast and I'm walking behind." This is a song of frustration, of not being in a position to do the things that most inspire you. Following the safe path in life because you are too scared to take risks. Of being told that you will never amount to anything if you follow your dreams. This song may be the most musical on the album---I tried to build up the climax at the end into a carnival-esque wall of sound.

Should have forgotten all about you. "And now I find myself searching/For a pair of perfect words/Hoping one day if I find them that maybe I can tell you/And I can make you understand." One of a couple of country love songs. The title pretty much sums up the message of the song. To contrast the sad lyric I tried to make my guitar sound quite sprightly, and I attempt what is probably the closest thing to a guitar solo on the record!

Mr America. "And he drives an SUV straight down the freeway/Tall in the saddle like a modern-day John Wayne." This song was written about a guy I met once. The sort who comes across as overly patriotic, but in reality hates everyone around him. A sign of the times!

Red. "A circus running wild and free/Deep inside a tiny dream/I call my fantasy." For a change of style, I don't play guitar on this track, but rather the piano. This song is another one, like "Control" and "Hope", that deals with dreaming and hoping and wishing for a better tomorrow.

Temperance. "One foot in the water is trying to set me free/One foot on dry land is gently guiding me." I wrote this song based on the Temperance card of the tarot deck. There's a lot of tarot imagery in the lyrics, such as the golden cups and the foot in the water. I wrote this song at a time when I was a huge Led Zeppelin fan---well, I still am!---particularly their "Led Zeppelin III" album. It's my attempt at writing something in a similar bluesy vein. Jimmy Page---eat your heart out!

Hope. "If I could take you by the hand/If I could make you stay/Would you listen to my cry?/Can you take it back?/Are you happy now?/Are you where you wanna be?" I wrote this song on the weekend after I heard that Elliott Smith had committed suicide. To be honest, I wasn't familiar with his music at the time, but it disturbed me that someone so talented and loved would want to end his life. I wrote and recorded this song on the same day and played all the instruments on this track (acoustic guitar, piano, synth strings, bass).

To her door. This is the one cover song on the album. Believe it or not, I recorded this song before I had ever heard the original version! My husband, who is from Australia, was trying to teach himself to play the guitar and chose this relatively simple (and very popular, I was told!) song by his fellow countryman, Paul Kelly. I was intrigued by the melody and snatched the guitar away from him (hah!) and played around with the chords. Because I had never heard Paul Kelly's version, I arranged the song in "waltz time" and came up with an original guitar melody. I have had the pleasure of meeting Paul Kelly twice since then and he was very kind to accept a copy of my album.

So long. "Thought I saw you yesterday/And I almost called out your name/For a moment I was walking by your side/Like the way it used to be." I wrote this song in honor of my mother's best friend who had died of leukemia. At the time I was learning some jazz chords on the guitar and this was my first attempt at writing a song that incorporated them. The title sums up the sentiment of the song in its dual meanings---"farewell" and "it's been a long time."

Never make me cry. "Darlin', you don't know who you're dealing with/You don't know who I am/You'll never make me cry." This is the first song I ever wrote on guitar---almost 8 years ago. It's amazing how fast time does go by! This is the other love-lost country song on my record. At the time it was my attempt to write a bluesy number, but it ended up sounding like something Patsy Cline would sing more than Billie Holiday.

Error -9073. Five minutes before my percussionist and bass player---Terry and Dustin---left my apartment we wrote and recorded this impromptu percussive jam---all with one microphone (who needs a complicated set-up anyway!). Error -9073 is titled after the error message that became all too familiar to me when using ProTools Free to record this album onto my iMac.

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Dafni is an acoustic pop/rock singer, songwriter and guitarist from Los Angeles who also happens to hold a Ph.D. in chemistry. This multi-talented and multi-faceted artist has been performing gigs in and around Los Angeles for the past six years. According to Suzanne Glass of Indie-Music.com, "Dafni has a rich and expressive voice, with considerable flexibility and a chic modern hipness."

After four-year-old Dafni heard Judy Garland sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz she knew she wanted to grow up to become a singer. At school Dafni played the French horn, electric bass, piano, and organ, sang in the school choir, and even played the mellophone in her high school marching band. With several musical achievements and awards under her belt, Dafni's heart was set on going to music school, but parental pressure led her to college and a double major in psychology and chemistry. The next time she picked up a guitar was during her graduate work in organic chemistry at UCLA and rediscovered her love of music. After working in the pharmacology department at UCLA for two years, Dafni is about to take the plunge and leave the world of chemistry with the goal of becoming a full-time musician.

Dafni's debut CD, Red, was released in March 2004, after recording the album part-time in her West Los Angeles home using ProTools-FREE software. Although this was not her first experience with recording an album (her four-song demo, Dreamland, was released in 2001), Red represents her first serious attempt at recording her own work. The twelve songs on the record reflect Dafni's melodic acoustic-pop style. The album includes the first song she ever wrote on guitar --- a country ballad entitled "Never make me cry" --- and two songs (the plaintive-but-hopeful piano-based "Red" and a mellophone-containing track, the sprightly "Happy day") written while in the (now defunct) three-piece folk-punk band, Stay at Home. With the exception of some percussion and bass, Dafni played all of the instruments on the record, an impressive assortment that includes acoustic guitar, piano and synths, bass, horn, and all of the vocals. Red has received some airplay around the country, from New Jersey to Alaska, and has even jumped the pond to Brisbane, Australia!

Aside from balancing her current full-time job as a chemist and her increasingly hectic schedule as an artist, Dafni has been working towards putting together a band of her own. In the summer of 2004 she began performing live with a pianist who joined her for part of her first mini-California tour. Their most recent shows have been at Twiggs Coffeehouse (San Diego), CK Café (Claremont), the Cinema Bar (Culver City), and the Westwood Brewing Company (Westwood), as well as regular appearances at the West LA, Brentwood and Pacific Palisades Farmers Markets on Sunday mornings. In November 2004, Dafni added a rhythm section to her line-up and will record her second album in early 2005.

Suzanne Glass of Indie-Music.com states: "[Dafni] blends rhythmic acoustic guitar, like [Ani] DiFranco, with a smooth full vocal that slides and exudes attitude, like [Billie] Holiday." Dafni is still in the early stages of her career, but if her recent success with Red, her newly assembled band, and her busy touring schedule are any indication, she has a promising future ahead of her.---Ashley Denault, December 2004.