Christopher Dallman
Most all of the good singer/songwriters this listener is fond of have a bit of neurosis as part of the mix. Christopher Dallman makes no effort to hide that his act includes “vocals, guitar and neurosis.” Good for him.
“Mistake” from Race The Light (2004 Treasure Records) shows some of that. It is an interesting song, musically. The lyrics are ok, but not earthshaking. “This Is Calm,” from the same collection, strikes the listener as a nice ballad with some Cat Stevens feel or a bit of James Taylor sound (look that up in the archives, you young ones). Now, Dallman hasn’t reached the heights of those classic artists, but….
Apparently, Dallman was a rather shy guy in his hometown of Milwaukee, though he stepped out of that character enough to be a school-play star. He currently has gigs in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area, which he now calls home. One of his tunes, “Over My Head,” actually shows that he isn’t in over his head. The singer does admit, however, that some of life’s mysteries are, indeed, over his head.
According to his biographical information, “Christopher has toured theaters, clubs, and colleges NATIONWIDE as well as OVERSEAS, sharing the stage with such notable artists as Amos Lee, Jonathan Rice, Ellis Paul, Gregory Douglass, Ollabelle, Julia Darling, Rachael Sage, and Casey Stratton.” TimeOut Chicago believes Dallman had “a soulful debut!” It will be interesting to see where he goes from here.
Christopher Dallman on MySpace
Tags: music, indie music, indie, Christopher Dallman, independent music
He has a pretty unique voice but I don’t think any of his music is similarly intriguing enough to make me regularly listen to it. Seems a little too run-of-the-mill for me.
I know I’ve been leaving not-too-positive comments for guy bands lately. Don’t mind me or anything! I just have different opinions about some things! Now, I don’t mind how Christopher sounds. I really enjoy his slower songs more than the upbeat ones, but there are a few exceptions. Nighttime in the City is very nice to listen to. The accompaniment goes very well with Dallman’s voice, and I like the piano in the background, only adding to the effect of the song. I wouldn’t mind buying a cd from him sometime soon.
“Mistake” reeled me in with those upbeat acoustic strums. The lyrics are, um, interesting to say the least ( “If you can’t get me high just stay away”). I like it though, and wouldn’t mind hearing it again and again.
Now. for me at least, when people tackle these slow tunes. they need to have unique and immaculate voices to pull it off. Dallman has a bit of a smoky rasp sound, but that’s about it. Thank goodness he has some cool lyrics to fall back on.
When I went to the myspace page to listen, I had a sound in my head that I expected to hear, and it wasn’t there. That’s a good thing though. The vocals were beyond what I expected them to be, and the lyrics weren’t too shabby either.