'BIBLE BELT' POP
Opening act Diane Birch is one to watch on the Nick Jonas tour
By Bliss 01/21/2010
Teen heartthrob Nick Jonas is grabbing headlines with his side project the Administration, but the one to watch on his West Coast tour is opening act Diane Birch, whose debut, “Bible Belt,” offered up some of the most refreshing, ear-pleasing pop of 2009. Aside from the warmth of Birch’s big, open alto and easy command of the keyboard, what distinguishes the disc is its tasteful production and influences — think ’70s hitmakers like Carole King, Laura Nyro, Rickie Lee Jones and “Tumbleweed Connection”-era Elton John.
Birch’s pop sensibility and original worldview were shaped by an offbeat upbringing that’s a publicist’s dream. After spending most of her younger formative years with her parents in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Australia, she went goth as a teenager after her family relocated to Portland. From Joy Division and the Cure she graduated to jazz, psychedelia, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and AM radio classics.
She eventually moved to Los Angeles to try making music for films. Instead, she found herself pounding out standards for upscale barflies at L’Orangerie and the Beverly Hills Hotel, an experience she references in the sassy “Valentino”: “Well, I crossed the lakes and mountains, ended up in Hollywood/ Playing piano in that pink hotel just like you said I would/ I kept looking out my window hoping one day you would come/ Going every shade of blue under that California sun.”
She started singing and writing songs while taking a class and eventually posted them on MySpace. An invitation from a manager in London convinced her to hop the pond for gigs and a publishing deal, but she crisscrossed the Atlantic back to New York after inking a label deal with S-Curve Records, which has taken pains to position Birch as inheritor of the Stax and Volt legacies. And there are ample traces of Southern blues and soul in her music — not to mention gospel, thanks to the hymns she grew up hearing in her preacher father’s church.
But the soul in her sound comes from personal conviction and connection to her material, rather than any stylistic similarities to R&B divas (like, say, Betty Wright, who co-produced “Bible Belt”). More obvious reference points for her buoyant melodies and intimate lyrics about personal empowerment can be found in the late-’60s Brill Building and Laurel Canyon’s early-’70s singer-songwriter legends. What makes Birch promising is not that she openly embraces her influences, but that she does so without sacrificing her own voice.
Diane Birch opens for Nick Jonas & the Administration 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at the Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., LA; $39.50-$45.50. Call (213) 388-1400 for deets. dianebirch.com, wiltern.com.
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