Whenever I buy a new CD, I pop it into my truck’s disc player and listen to about thirty seconds of each cut, unless a tune is particularly good, then I extend my drive home, if necessary, to let it play. The day my copy of Daily Divergence arrived in the mail, I performed the usual ritual, but this time I found myself hopping on I-26 (I live in Charleston, South Carolina) and driving toward Columbia. I wasn’t going home until I heard every track in its entirety. No exaggeration, I skipped through none of them. There’s not a weak cut on this disc, from the driving opening rhythm of “Walking Back to the Sun” to the exuberant punch of drums that concludes “Difficult Times,” Daily Divergence provides the musical escape its title promises. And, according to the album’s liner notes, it was this need for escape that brought the work into existence.
Dom’s son, Domenick, struggles with Fragile X Syndrome, and as the album notes state, as Domenick’s daytime caregiver, Dom’s “personal time to record (or do anything) is virtually non-existent.” Daily Divergence is the product of those rare moments, but it is also, as one listen reveals, the fruit of the rigorous experience Dom and his wife, Barb, have undergone as they help their son cope with Fragile X. One theme threads its way undisguised through this album: the therapeutic power of music for parents and child alike. These are pop-rock songs, but very meaningful pop-rock songs-- like the ones that used to be written in the 1970s-- with an allure that doesn’t fade but grows each time they are played, Beatlesque in that regard, and in other regards. Like the songs of Paul McCartney, these tunes are big on melody, undeniably the most prominent characteristic of Dom’s songwriting style. These tunes inevitably and unexpectedly find their way back into your head long after you’ve actually listened to them. As a performer, Dom’s greatest strength is his rich voice --which calls to mind Elvis Costello among others-- and his skillful drumming and guitar playing complement his vocals nicely (excluding the sax, Dom plays every instrument on the album, another McCartney-like talent). It is equally refreshing to hear provocative lyrics, which chronicle a father and son’s journey through despair and cynicism as well as joy and hope. But, ultimately, it is the latter that prevails … much thanks to music.
Daily Divergence kicks off with an upbeat rock tune, “Walking Back to the Sun.” After a powerful electric guitar solo, followed by a rifling bass drum, Dom announces the idea that will color all ten of the albums tracks: “Everybody’s searching … / … for the blossom and the bloom.” Though “the waiting” may be, in Tom Petty’s words, “the hardest part,” the song carries a tinge of hope that sunny days must lie ahead. The singer feels isolated in his hardship, cold and lonely, scornful, but unbeaten, as the driving rhythm and modulating melodies of this track suggest.
Bitterness and scorn, however, are the hallmark of the next cut, “Day Off,” and the tempo slows down to capture the singer’s intolerance, even disgust, with a petty acquaintance who manages to ruin his “day off” by shooting him down and kicking him around and annoying him with his or her seemingly inane “baggage.”
“I Just Want to Meet You,” written during the weeks preceding Domenick‘s birth, typifies the variety found on this record as well as the careful production. The song soothes with cool Jazz chords, as the singer anticipates meeting his son for the first time and imagining “all we’ll share.” A sweet saxophone solo provided by Dom’s father, completes the easy feel of this piece.
Gloom returns in earnest, however, on the next track, “Undermined,” a tune reminiscent of solo Lennon and even Pink Floyd. As with “Day Off,” the singer seems to lash out at others who have no concept of the day to day challenges he faces, but simply want to probe into his business for their own entertainment. The song is a caustic rebuke directed at our tabloid society where “nothing is sacred and nothing secret.”
One of the most conspicuous virtues of Daily Divergence is its ability to trace the roller coaster ride that being a parent of a Fragile X child must certainly be. Gloom transitions briefly into joy, only to return. And the shift in mood between songs reflects this wavering emotional state. The centerpiece among all these mixed emotions are tracks five and six, two of the strongest cuts on the disc. In “Nothing at All” the sun of “Walking Back” becomes visible and vital; the singer’s faith will finally be rewarded. Domenick, we can assume, is having a good day. “Looking on the bright side is what faith is all about,” Dom sings, in a bare bones acoustic piece that highlights the rich timbre of his vocals. The tempo is controlled as if the singer realizes he must not take this “good day” for granted -- a ten-second conga solo is a nice restrained touch in the middle of the tune. But Dom’s optimism is cautiously tempered as he notes, “The little victories pull you through / A game that you eventually lose.”
Yet the optimism peaks in the subsequent tune. Into the wake of the fading finger-picking that concludes “Nothing at All” emerges the sure, bright blasts of his dad’s saxophone, heralding the “sunny day” that “Emotional Drought” exuberantly celebrates. This uplifting seventies-style rock tune-- with its echoes of “Dancing in the Moonlight”-- is full of fun and promise right down to the final three playful blasts of the sax.
The newfound inner harmony that marks “Emotional Drought” is externalized in “Fortunes Made,” which includes smooth vocal harmonizing. The song considers the relative nature of good fortune and warns about taking what one has -- as meager as it may sometimes seem, for granted.
A gentle rocker, “Misconnected,” would blend nicely among the songs on the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. Like “Fortunes Made,” it is a warning against losing the things that really matter. Namely, it is about the importance of family and the tragedy of someone who becomes “disconnected” and “never gets to see kids grow.”
“Jon Wayne” is also a bit of a reprimand, lamenting the loss of fundamental values, in this case, old-school masculinity. In the age of political correctness and the metrosexual, being a man is not what it used to be, the song suggests. But the lyrics tie the tune subtly to the others, as Dom points out that Wayne “never ran away” from a problem. Another stark, clean acoustic tune, it mimics the virtues of the hero it commemorates in its austerity.
The optimism that has crept to the surface on Daily Divergence culminates in its final track, “Difficult Times,” which offers homage and gratitude to all the singers “who brought comfort to my mind / Through the difficult times,” an apt conclusion to a disc that celebrates the redemptive power of song. “Difficult Times” is a Traveling Wilburys- style romp, with an ambling bass and a final drum solo that seem to announce a victory. “The music and the rhyme” have won out. We can imagine Domenick singing this song to his father.
“Bottle up this part time high / A new prescription to never cry” sings Dom on “Emotional Drought,” a fitting metaphor to describe precisely what he has done, captured the otherwise fleeting thoughts and emotions he has experienced raising Domenick and preserved them in song, bottled them up for all to uncork, savor and enjoy. Daily Divergence is one of those “little victories” that “pull you through,” mentioned in “Nothing At All.” No … I’d call it a big victory.
Reviewer John Cusatis is a freelance writer, musician, and teacher based in Charleston, SC.
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