Dakota Moon is a new band with an interesting sound. I
\naccidentally caught their act at a J&R Music World in-store
\nperformance while I was looking for some new CD’s. I was so
\nimpressed by them, I bought their self-titled CD even though I had
\nnever heard of them before I entered the store. They are a foursome
\nthat sing smooth harmonies not unlike the R&B group Boyz II
\nMen, but they play acoustic guitars, bass, and percussion, and they
\nmix different styles of music like folk, rock, R&B and country
\ninto a sound uniquely their own. Does the mixture of these
\ndifferent styles of music work? The answer, for the most part, is
\nyes.<\/p>\n
The album starts off strongly with the energetic “Another Day
\nGoes By.” The acoustic guitars crank up, the harmonies, led by lead
\nsinger Ty Taylor, really soar and the rhythm section consisting of
\nbassist Ray Artis and percussionist Malloy provide a steady and
\nsure backbeat. The production here like on the rest of the album is
\ncrisp and uncluttered. Basically, everything about this song
\nclicks.<\/p>\n
They slow down on the next cut with a sweet ballad called “A
\nPromise I Make.” This has to be the prettiest song I’ve heard in a
\nlong time. This is where the Boyz II Men comparison really kicks
\nin, if only that group could come up with a song this good. Taylor
\nand the rest of the band show that they can sing both ballads and
\nuptempo songs effectively. The next song “Violet” is another sweet
\nballad just as pretty (I really can’t remember the last time I
\nheard two back-to-back ballads I enjoyed so much). Malloy takes a
\nturn on the lead vocals and does quite a good job.<\/p>\n
Guitarist Joe Dean takes over the lead vocals for “She Knows”
\n(Dakota Moon is not lacking in good singing). The song starts out
\nat a slow tempo backed up with some soft but busy drumming from
\nMalloy, but then explodes into a boisterous and catchy chorus.
\n“Won’t Be Alone Tonight” gives us a chance to hear the foursome
\nsing acapella briefly before the instruments kick in. This is the
\nmost country-ish number on the album and would not sound be out of
\nplace on an Oak Ridge Boys or Alabama (remember them?) album.<\/p>\n
There are a few missteps on the album: the ballads “Sing You To
\nSleep” and “Black Moon Day” needed more lyrical depth to really put
\nthem over; instead they come off a tad syrupy. “Snow In July” is a
\nhalf-hearted attempt to do a Stevie Wonder-type funk number. And
\n“Call On Me” is another R&B-flavored cut that also does not
\nquite take off. I think the problem is they haven’t successfully
\nworked out how to incorporate funkiness into their sound.<\/p>\n
However, things do get back on track with “Sweet Lady Jane” a
\nsmooth, midtempo R&B number which fits their sound much better.
\nThey also do a rousing cover of James Taylor’s “Your Smiling Face”
\ngiving the song some nice soulful touches. Finally, the album’s
\ncloser is a winsome midtempo ballad appropriately titled “Til We
\nMeet Again.”<\/p>\n
Dakota Moon are a talented band with a fresh sound and lots of
\nenthusiasm. It’s hard not to like a combination like that. Despite
\na few rookie mistakes, they have created an impressive debut. Their
\nalbum is a nice light and appealing piece of work perfect for the
\nsummer. I look forward to hearing more from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":27827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7500],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39211","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dakota-moon","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39211"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}