Damon Mitchell: Elise
Damon Mitchell
Elise
(Damon Mitchell)
âHeist,â opens Damon Mitchellâs Elise showing off his strong vocals and quite sly little lyrics, I love the piano and electric here with Nick Dâ Virgillioâs strong and slightly odd drumming. Sean Geyerâs backing âdo do doâsâ make this a killer poppy opener in the Harry Nilsson vein.
Max Mitchellâs organ and Virgillioâs big snare moves us through the talking verses of âJust a Face,â the second tune here, while Kim Keyesâ âoohingâ pushes the choruses into another space. âLicense Plate,â gets us up and almost jumping into a country-vibe; thatâs Charlie McCoy playing harmonica and Brian Arrowood in fine fiddle. Again, Mitchell balances between singing and talking here and the simple subject of the lyrics belies some very strong songwriting construction and lyrical smarts. Itâs hard to get all serious though with harmonica and fiddle, but one needs to listen closely to this one. Very good stuff.
I so dig the cool jazz vibe of âWorld in Her Eyes.â Jacob Dupreâs flugelhorn welcomes us into this Bacharach-meets-Ben Folds tune, making this song unlike any other on Elise.
Dave Martinâs strong yet subtle bass playing and Tris Imbodenâs snare pushes us through the last tune and title track. Itâs a dark mover of a song, again showing a distinctive vocal and some fine lead guitar from Nick Bowcott.
Elise reveals lots of range, color, and smarts and with a whole bunch of great players helping, Damon Mitchell is spot on with this EP.