NOW!
The Caribbean island of Trinidad is the birthplace of Dana Jade. Despite the cultural calypso musical background she was raised in, Jade spent her Summers in New York where she found the electric guitar and punk infused rock styles of Patti Smith and Hole more to her liking. In 2002 she emigrated to London where these early influences and the English live scene began shaping her own musical journey. Since then she has spent 3 years as part of the all-girl alternative choir Gaggle, performed at Reading, guested on Later….with Jools Holland and 2012 sees the release of her debut solo album.
Fans of Courtney Love, Lennon or even Meredith Brooks may want to take a curious dabble but unfortunately the only thing I am drawn to so far seems to be Ms Jade’s striking looks. The songs have a certain volatility one would associate with punk but are short on attitude if that is the intention. For the most part they are one-dimensional and repetitive and the singer fails to inject any character to make the melodies memorable or interesting. The gritty production and barbed vocals I guess are meant to enhance the angst but merely add to the under-developed and unimaginative qualities attached to the material. The breathy style that features throughout the CD would usually be an attraction but it merely adds to the uninspiring tone. Despite lasting only 34 minutes and containing just 10 tracks I found that overall ‘Dana Jade’ was rather boring. The odd riff or melody made me sit up and take notice but these are few and far between and my mind was soon wandering again.
Performed live I can imagine the songs taking on a great amount of energy but listening at home it just comes across like an episode of Loose Women with everyone in a bad mood.
1.
Eyes Like Cinder 04:14
2.
Shudder 03:48
3.
Jaded 02:47
4.
Murky Tears 04:28
5.
The End Of The Line 03:13
6.
Little Sister 03:12
7.
Gritting Teeth 03:34
8.
Lust 02:24
9.
She Or I Go 03:17
10.
Dark As Midnight 03:27