Black Birds are Dancing On Me
Danny Michel
Six Shooter
It still amazes me that Danny Michel is not one of the more recognizable names in Canadian music. Boasting eight solo albums and two JUNO award nominations, the singer-songwriter from Kitchener, Ont. is a prolific musician who combines many diverse influences spanning multiple musical genres, and weaves them together to create a sound all his own. His upcoming studio effort, Black Birds are Dancing On Me, reaffirms this, with Michel once again working with backing band The Benque Players in Belize. Black Birds offers listeners a wonderfully pleasing album rooted in soul, afro-beat, and world music. Sitting down one late summer evening to enjoy this, I was extremely pleased with the end result.
The album begins with the groovy, laid-back “What Colour Are You?”, with a very prominent focus on drums and percussion within the piece. A dominant bass line also permeates the opening track, serving up a little extra groove to draw the listener into the record. “A Cold Road” soon follows suit, being another track with prominent percussion lines. Sounding like an interesting mix between Jack White’s “Love Interruption” and Graceland-era Paul Simon, this love song exemplifies a world music influence, reinforced by a small tribal chant section toward the end of the piece.
“Survivor’s Guilt” demonstrates a little more of Michel’s guitar skill, featuring some slick guitar noodling behind another groove-oriented rhythm section. It is also one of the more lyrically impressive tracks on the record, while featuring a full chanting section which lasts the entire final minute of the song. “Into the Light,” by contrast, is laced with afro-beats, a stomping number, and more of Michel’s guitar, and even adding a horn section within the musical texture. A simple, sing-along chorus is thus in place, which is likely to illicit some audience participation if placed in Michel’s live set.
“Just The Way I Am” is the album’s shortest track, and once again explicitly displays the Paul Simon influences. A minimal track in terms of sound, this love song offers a “one man, one guitar” vibe. Michel offers a heartfelt performance on lead vocals, with other members adding in harmonies as the song goes along.
The album is rounded out with two incredibly upbeat tracks. “The First Night” brings the use of world music influences full circle, using the horn section, rhythm section, and a catchy chorus to its full potential. “Take My Heart And Run” presents itself as a more dance-oriented number, incorporating some grooving electronics and flamenco-influenced guitar into an emotional closing piece.
With Black Birds are Dancing On Me, Danny Michel once again proves he deserves recognition as one of Canada’s finest singer-songwriters in our cultural landscape. The perfect record for warm summer weather, it pains me that it will see release as the season comes to a close. However, this disc should keep us warm all year round.
