Natalie D-Napoleon - HereIn California

Wed 16th Sep, 2009 in Music Reviews

Many have tried to cover AC/DC’s rocking anthem You Shook Me All Night Long and many have failed miserably. You need look no further than to Celine Dion, Shania Twain, or Big & Rich for ample evidence of their very public wrong-doings. So when an acoustic version of the hard-rock icon’s signature tune turns up in the hands of a singer-songwriter from Perth, the first listen definitely has you holding your breath. But as the twelve-string guitar twangs and the shakers rattle, Natalie D-Napoleon’s stripped back version quickly draws you in and what keeps you there is that voice.

Having previously released several EPs of her own material, on her newest release, Here In California, D-Napoleon offers a collection of other people’s songs that reflect her own musical adventure. A stalwart of the Perth music scene, D-Napoleon now lives in California and the material covered on Here In California is appropriately drawn from both places. Along with AC/DC, D-Napoleon has recorded songs by fellow Australians Paul Kelly and The Jayco Brothers while the Californian contingent includes her recent touring partner, Victoria Williams, Guy Clarke, and folk icon Kate Wolf .

It is a spicy assortment that D-Napoleon has decided to tackle acoustically. Yet the arrangements are captivatingly fresh and allow her incredible voice plenty of room to work its magic. The instrumentation is rustic and sparse, but serves the cause of each song perfectly. On Paul Kelly’s To Her Door it is just D-Napoleon’s tender acoustics, Phil Parlapiano’s beautiful piano accordion, and a sprinkling of tambourine. On her heartbreaking version of Even The Sweet Things Die, a song by Perth’s Jayco Brothers, Dan Phillips and Melanie Robinson, join D-Napoleon on piano and cello respectively. And You Shook Me All Night Long comes complete with a blazing fiddle solo by Sally Barr who is apparently a violinist with the Santa Barbara Symphony.

D-Napoleon regularly performed with The Jayco Brothers, so it is only fitting that the Californian songs should also contain a personal connection and that comes through a rollicking rendition of a lesser known gem by Victoria Williams titled Hummingbird. The other two California songs might be just as obscure to Australian audiences, but in tackling Guy Clarke’s LA Freeway and Kate Wolf’s Here In California, D-Napoleon has bravely made her own mark on two icons of American folk music – even if she is helped a little by another icon within that genera in the form of guitarist Kenny Edwards.

What makes this recording special is that D-Napoleon has made it personal. Artists approach covers for all sorts of reason, but they are nearly always the wrong reasons. D-Napoleon has served up an offering of songs that not only reflect her own musical adventure, but mean something to her. That’s what pulls you in. You hear it in the carefully considered and flawlessly presented arrangements and it is what drives her emotive vocals. It is always treat to learn something about an artist from one of their songs. It’s an even bigger treat to learn something about them from someone else’s work and that’s exactly what Here In California offers.