By Tammy Reese

Jenny Dalton’s sophomore album, “Rusalka’s Umbrella” promises to take listeners on a journey that explores the inspiration of the Slavic myth of a water nymph, Rusalka, waiting for her lost love. The haunting siren-esque vocals are honest and introspective with a purity reflective of Dalton’s inspiration, water and the Morton’s Salt girl. “Rusalka’s Umbrella” stays true Dalton’s two previous albums with beautiful strings and piano harmonies driving the songs, accompanied by lyrics fitting of a lovelorn phantasm. The lyrics if “So Says I” sort of sums up the spirit of the album, “But I’m not a broken heart, I just wanted to be alone, I’m not a sinking ship, I’m just testing the water, I’m not a lost soul, I’m just wandering around, so says I.”

Accompanying the CD is Dalton’s first book, “Daughters of the Dead Sea,” a collection of journal entries that give more insight into the creative process behind her inspiration for the overall theme of change. An excerpt from Dalton’s entries reads, “He likes “Better Known Vacancy.” I told him I wrote it after waking up in the middle of the night at my friend’s house – disoriented and hungover. But that’s not what the song is about. I always picture waking up in an abandoned beach house on the East Coast with water rising and flooding in. So many songs are like that. They’re rarely about something tangible or experienced, but instead they are manifestations of something like a dream world. I hope the songs can conjure that same world for whoever listens to them. Extrasensory. Songs come from extreme places. The keyboard is my refuge. The songs are my antidotes to absolutely anything.”

This 100-page book reveals who Jenny Dalton is as an artist to her fans and to those just starting to hear her music.  For being a self-produced artist, she is one of the best and has a very promising future ahead of her.  Each song lends to something indicative of change. Water washes things clean, erodes shores and is where cities are built, to say the least it seems to be the element of choice this year. Change something people long for and something people don’t want, either way Dalton creates a mood that is calm, reflective and simple. The purity of her vocals and piano playing is first rate and refreshing giving the likes of those in her genre a run for their money.

If you like Jenny try:
No doubt, Enya, Alanis Morissette, Evanescence, Beth Waters, Natalie Merchant and Sarah Mclachan

www.jennydalton.com

Filed under: Music Reviews