An album chock full of first rate contradictions; Intimate yet remote, dreamy yet visceral, tender yet suffused with a mysterious silent rage."
- Jim White, artist
Wrong-Eyed Jesus
Drill A Hole In That Substrate and Tell Me What You See
"French swings easily between styles with a lovely, rainy-day voice and sophisticated arrangements."
- Jenny Shank
The Onion
"A gorgeous, inviting record."
- Michael Lille, artist
Never Home To Stay
From intimate cricket songs to the void of space, Diane French's second full-length release, This Trick, throws light on shifting geographies, perspectives and emotional terrain. Recorded in Boulder, Colorado, it represents French's deepest and most layered work to date. Rich, textural guitar work by Todd Ayers (co-producer of French's 2001 release, No Cool Bone) and Eben Grace (recently of Dan Bern) underlie the sophisticated structure of French's writing. This Trick also features several distinctive appearances by experimental jazz trumpet player Ron Miles (recently featured on Joe Henry's Tiny Voices) whose unmistakable style pairs perfectly with French's slightly left-of-center phrasing.
When alt-country maverick Jim White heard the rough tracks from This Trick last summer, he called it "intimate yet remote, dreamy yet visceral, suffused with a mysterious, silent rage." He asked French to join his band as keyboardist/vocalist on his tour behind his latest release, Drill a Hole In That Substrate and Tell Me What You See. They spent several months playing in Europe and then opening for Lucinda Williams and Wilco in the United States and Canada. Once French got home to Colorado, she was ready to focus on finishing her own record.
French says that working with White taught her a lot. "Jim was a showman and at the same time totally unaffected. The way he approaches his music showed me the risks I was and wasn't taking in my own work. It made me want to push beyond my own comfort zone more than I had been." The result is music that is mysterious, grinding and sultry, with a sound uniquely defined by French's thick, intoxicating vocals.
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