Diane Cluck - Oh Vanille/Ova Nil

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Clinton on Fri 29 Dec, 2006.

Really whetting my whistle is this debut (to us, anyway) from hitherto unknown Diane Cluck. This is a limited edition CD with handmade sleeve. It kind of crosses the Animal Collective plaintive strum with the eccentric vocal stylings of a Joanna Newsom (though not that eccentric). The songs are uniformly excellent throughout and the guitar picking often reminds me of the beautiful acoustic playing on Love's 'Forever Changes'. More traditional I guess than some of the nu-folk about at the moment but will definitely appeal to fans of the genre as well as people like Laura Veirs. Each sleeve is handmade and is limited to 500. Highly Recommended.

“This record is by my favorite singer-songwriter in all of New York City. I'm so happy to be alive at the same time she is
because i get to see her perform. It's her and guitar or her and piano or her and harmonium. Her lyrics are so good, when i play this for people they stop doing everything and are quiet for hours after." Devendra Banhart
Diane Cluck's hauntingly clear voice weaves melodies full of love and pain through her intentionally sparse arrangements of piano, acoustic guitar and harmonium. Perfect as they are, any additional instrumentation would be unnecessary adornments on these “skeleton” songs, as she calls them. A classical training and obsession with Erik Satie has instilled a tasteful minimalism. Her recordings have been self released until now in a fashion similar to the manner in which she records them: deliberate, hesitant and beautiful. Even now, with this full length coming out internationally on Important Records, Diane has only allowed for it to be issued in an edition of 500 in homemade packaging. As a result this is the 4th installment in Important's Arts And Crafts series featuring 11 tracks released in packaging handmade made by the artist. It is our hope that an unlimited edition can eventually be arranged. After two years of trying to convince Diane that a commercial release is the right thing to do Important is honored to release "Oh Vanille / Ova Nille."

The fact that Diane Cluck recently allowed her music to be included on the Devendra Banhart curated Golden Apples Of The Sun compilation (including Iron & Wine, Vertiver, Joanna Newsom, Six Organs Of Admittance, White Magic, Matt Valentine, CocoRosie, Vashti Bunyan and deemed “essential” by Mojo Magazine) has earner her a great deal more critical recognition and represents what must be acknowledged as at least a slight desire for her music to be exposed to a larger audience. Though she has maintained a quiet presence, her extensive touring in Europe and America has furthered awareness while copies of her cdrs have circulated extensively. Songwriting this powerful and music this good can't be a secret forever.

Oh Vanille/ Ova Nil is Diane Cluck's fourth full length and her first official release for a recording company.

From Diane:
Half of this album was written at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula, California in the summer of 2003. The other half was written mostly in Brooklyn.
Things trudge along as they should and when I was ready to record Todd Horton introduced himself and offered to help. We recorded mostly in a room he was renting and also in a room I was renting
where I also recorded four other albums.
Since making Oh Vanille / Ova Nil the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony has burned to the ground and the room I used to live in has been demolished.
Peace,
Diane

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