Album Notes

Crows and Doves take the lush vocals of Danielle Kimak Stauss to otherworldly dimensions in the pyschedelic slanted rock experience. Sweet, angelic melodies and rich harmonies float over addictive mo-town and dance hall beats born from a lap top studio. While some tracks drift on with only splashes of percussion, velvety deep realms are traveled to in these arrangements that cross over the lines of blue eyed soul, new wave, and post punk genres. Influences range from The Verve, XTC, and Dusty Springfield, to the depths of Siouxsie Sioux and Chameleons UK, to big screen Bollywood dance finales. "Auraphonic surround sound" which can thump hypnotically on the dance floor and through the club lounge, or aired softly to set the mood make up the varied offerings on this debut solo album offered by Rabbit Velvet. Crows and Doves has made it into the CMJ charts, as it is softly sneaking around various rotations with the collegiate and free form radio crowd making headway upon intrigued ears. The CD art, (as all other visual aspects of the music) is by Stauss and comes with each disc packaged in a hand affected, signed, and numbered giclee print - there are no two cd packages completely alike. The album has made the "Best of Lists" for 2010 at: WRSU - Rutger's Radio, KALX/Berkeley, Leonard's Lair - UK, Portuguese Alternative Charts, Scholars and Rogues, "The Platinum Albums"- US, and the Audities list @Pop Underground-UK.

Snippets of Reviews and Interviews:

"When we hear music that’s new to us we probably can’t help trying to triangulate the sound – who does this remind me of, in other words. As I listen to Crows and Doves I hear all kinds of things. Last night I described it to some friends as “kind of like Imogen Heap meets Switchblade Symphony.” - S. Smith/Scholars and Rogues/USA

On Crows… Stauss experiments with motown, dub reggae, pop, urban and dance in a wholly contemporary setting. This is a playful album a wholesome, upbeat record that belies any goth tags that occasionally got piggybacked onto her previous work. Yes, occasionally her voice evokes the spirit of Siouxsie Sioux but forget any notions of twilight, Crows and Doves is 52 minutes of pure sunshine. I’m reminded more of Saint Etienne both stylistically and vocally over the whole album. Occasionally she even manages to out-Cracknell Sarah. Just listen to ‘Haarlem Haunt’ where Stauss transports that Camden Town vibe to New Yorks Greenwich Village and makes it her own. Swinging sixties London meets italio-house. Bet she’s got a Vespa. - B. Spaceman/[sic]magazine/Belgium