Album Notes

the dambrots "how to fall in love in 20 minutes" (the red album)

Acoustic duo "the dambrots" have done it again, with some added twists and surprises this time around. the dambrots have come out of the studio with another outstanding album, building on their signature sound and adding in a bit of the new.

Building on the acoustic foundation created on their debut album, "especially not love", this album shows the dambrots expanding their instrumental palette, incorporating hammond organ, concert bells, electric bass, and a wide variety of percussion instruments. The percussion includes tambourine, shakers, triangle, finger-snapping, and guiro. The guiro is a Latin Percussion instrument that is featured in an instrumental at the end of the song "thirty four". al james uses the concert bells on several songs to great effect, particularly on the coda of "missing something you only imagined," where it is used in counterpoint to dawn marie's wordless vocals.

"how to fall in love in 20 minutes" mixes things up by taking the dambrots' 60's style sounds (think "Rubber Soul"-era Beatles, The Byrds, Dylan, Carole King, Joni Mitchell) and adding the feel of 80's and 90's artists such as Suzanne Vega, Edie Brickell and Sarah McLachlan. The result is a new sound that is 100% dambrots.

But the heart of the dambrots appeal is still where it was on the first album: dawn marie's voice, and al james' songwriting and guitar playing. al james songwriting takes us, again, on an emotional journey with powerful lyrics, and intriguing chord changes, performed with his distinctive acoustic guitar style. dawn marie continues to deliver these songs with her haunting and at times vulnerable vocals, with particular vocal highlights on "then she's gone," "beautiful women dressed up as lobsters," and "g.b.a. 6".

Another highlight of the album is "little boxes in big boxes," a quirky, short, fast country-rock number with bizzare lyrics delivered with breathtaking speed by dawn marie.

"how to fall in love in 20 minutes" is the second album, the red album, in a series of eight albums that the dambrots will record. Their first album was magenta, and each consecutive album will take the color of the next letter in their logo.