One of the greatest feelings is getting so totally blown away by a new artist that you get goosebumps. Exactly one year ago, that artist for me was a young pianist/singer-songwriter named Diane Birch.Born in Michigan in 1983, Diane spent most of her childhood in Zimbabwe and Australia where her father worked as a Christian preacher. By the time she was ten, her family had settled in Portland, Oregon, and she had already been learning piano for three years.
Despite Diane's experiences abroad, her sound is quite western. Such is unsurprising as her parents disapproved of secular music and thus exposed her mostly to opera, classical music and hymns. What is surprising, however, is that despite no longer being sheltered from popular music (or popular culture in general), Diane's sound has not deviated much from the styles she has grown up listening to. Indeed, her modern gospel draws endless comparisons to the very legends who influenced her such as Carole King and the Carpenters.
Diane Birch flawlessly blends soul, gospel, R&B and folk on her debut album Bible Belt (2009): "Choo Choo" is a jumpy, key-filled rocker; loungy tracks like lead-single "Nothing But a Miracle" and "Forgiveness" call to mind classic, sultry chanteuses such as Nancy Sinatra. Diane also displays some modern pop sensibilities: fans of sweet, simple, sing-along pop songs, like Feist’s smash hit "1234," may instantly fall in love with "Valentino," named after Birch’s imaginary childhood friend.
Despite Bible Belt’s title, the album is no bible-thumping exaltation of the Lord: "bible belt" refers to Diane's self-described restrictive religious upbringing. Yet, Bible Belt is not an anti-religious album either; rather, Diane addresses finding one’s own path in life - breaking away from her religious roots and discovering what else is in the world. She expresses this idea most explicitly in the jazzy "Rise Up" in which she advises listeners to "wise up to the stories [they]'ve been told." Diane also addresses the difficulties of trying to carve out one’s own path in life: "Fools / Knockin' on my door / Callin' out my name / Tellin' me to change my ways," she sings on the feisty "Fools."
Diane is not completely confident in her newfound secularism, however. Moments of self-doubt surface in the introspective "Mirror Mirror" ("Mirror, mirror, is it me or you that's lying? / Mirror, mirror, is it me or you that's crying? / You know I try / But I can't hold my head up high").
Although Bible Belt is loaded with hits, the album's real centrepiece - the real sparkling gem that makes Bible Belt the great album it is - is not any individual song but Diane's voice, one of the most gorgeous, arresting voices I have ever heard. From whisper to gentle coo to full-on barn-burning shout, Diane can hit all the notes, giving Bible Belt a pleasant varying intensity.
Since Bible Belt’s release, Diane Birch has graced countless magazine covers, performed on most of the major North American daytime and late night talk shows, toured the world and served as the opening act on Nick Jonas and the Administration's Who I Am tour. Before she even had a record deal, she had gained Prince's endorsement: after having watched one of her gigs during her days as a pianist-for-hire at a hotel in Hollywood, Prince invited her to his mansion to jam and eat egg sandwiches just so he could "check out" this new talent.
This Tuesday, one year and three days after Diane Birch first blew me away on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, she will return with a brand new EP The Velveteen Age. Among the EP's seven new tracks will be covers of songs by Gothic post-punk legends Joy Division, the Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees and Echo & the Bunnymen. We have heard her cover the Beatles, Hall & Oates, Tom Petty and even Haddaway, but her new covers, being of artists of such drastically differing styles, have the potential to be her most interesting covers yet.
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