There is a definite, appealing southern sound in Dana Falconberry’s inflections and aesthetics. She wears the sensitive side of Texas proudly on her sleeve throughout her Though I Didn’t Call It Came EP, a prelude of what’s to come later in the year.
Opener “Petoskey Stone” builds on a dreamy layer of fractured, folksy arrangements and chamber pop harmonies, in large part due to Falconberry’s collaboration with Christopher Cox, who provides keys and production. It’s an incredibly fragile song, despite the unflinching sense of rhythm, broken into parts by a gorgeously sparse and atmospheric midsection. As a nice contrast, the rhythm on “Possum Song” is provided by longing, intimate guitar strums, and, though blatantly sad, Falconberry’s lyrics never flirt with the melancholy or macabre. Her elemental references to nature go well with her quaint, feathery voice, not unlike Georgian songwriter Madeline Adams, although Falconberry, the lighthearted Texan minstrel, seemingly has no interest in painting in as stark a tone as Adams.
The piano and guitar of “Muskegon” roll along together, giving a brief yet weighty interlude between the first pair of songs and “Maple Leaf Red (acoustic)”, where a toy piano and whistle melodies dance around Falconberry’s swirl of delightful color comparisons. While her airy voice and words are constants, both recognizable and joys to hear, her and Cox’s instrumentation is what really makes the songs pop, hand claps and cello stomps included.
Clocking in at just over 13 minutes with musical space for perhaps one more track, Though I Didn’t Call It Came is an impressive, all-too-brief glimpse at what’s still to come.
Essential Tracks: “Petoskey Stone” and “Possum Song”
