Potter's Daughter - The Blind Side

Music is a very important part of my life, and new music always gives me a sense of anticipation and sometimes challenge. When that new music is from an act that I'm new to, those senses of anticipation and challenge are heightened. New music comes my way in a number of directions: sometimes it is from established artists that I have a strong affinity to; sometimes it's through 'browsing' music sites or stores; often it's from favoured labels (Bad Elephant Music or Edition Records being particular strengths for me); sometimes I am sent music to review by sites that I occasionally write for; and every now and then a band or artist will contact me and ask if I would be interested in reviewing their material.

This is one of the latter.

I heard about Potter's Daughter through a friend request on a particular social media site from their singer and pianist, Dyanne Potter Voegtlin and a subsequent conversation online. When the files arrived, I wondered what to make of something described as 'Art Rock & Jazz Folk fusion', so I gave it a listen.

'The Blind Side' is the 2018 debut album by this 5-piece band from NYC: Dyanna Potter Voegtlin - piano & vocals; Amit Chatterjee - guitar,guitar synth & percussion; Lincoln Goines - bass; Ian C Voegtlin - guitar; and Randy Crafton - percussion & drums.

The first thing that struck me about this recording is the sheer beauty it encapsulates, both musically and lyrically. The virtuosity that one comes to expect from artists on the progressive wing of the musical world is here in spades: Dyanne is a classically trained pianist and she brings all that technique and skill to the table, allied with an obvious love of the freedom and innovation of jazz. I found it at times intriguing and at times awe-inspiring, and she brings many different 'textures' of piano throughout the collection. This is a mix of instrumental and vocal tracks - they actually alternate, with the odd tracks being instrumental and the even ones vocal.

City Lights opens things up, with some wonderful lyrical jazz on piano, bass and drums, on a par with anything from the classic repertoire of the genre, to my mind. Electric guitar enters midway through and changes the mood of the tune, but always good. She is Dreaming  has vocals in tight harmony, with a hint of Bjork for me. Some soaring guitars towards the end and a sense of 'shuffle'. Memento is quite ballad-like, with jazzier guitar than hitherto, and Its Summer Night brings some suspenseful chords, almost ecclesiastic harmonies and an overall ethereal feel in the voice, guitars and piano. Moment IV has a strong, driving rhythm that comes more from the piano than from the drums, and some wonderful heavy guitar introduced. To My Love is wonderfully eclectic song, with a bluesy feel to the guitar at the start, an almost eastern feel to the voice and melody, and for me a feel reminiscent of CSNY.

Silver Moon has for me echoes of Steely Dan in the guitar & piano intro, and as a song builds nicely in intensity while always allowing the piano to lead. Sure On This Shining Night begins with some good piano arpeggios and an unusual melody, and is enticingly choral with overlapping vocals towards the end. Journey Into Spring is an evocative, ponderous, multi-layered piece with an acoustic guitar solo and a nice interplay between guitar and piano. I Lay Down has guitar and bass playing in unison for a large part of the song, and has for me a distinct reminder of British jazzy Progressive band Thieves Kitchen, particularly in the vocals. Another Rain Song uses the piano arpeggios to evoke the feeling of rain, the guitars are almost flute-like, and there is a cymbal crash about a minute in that sounds like a sigh (just how I feel when it's raining...). The final track, Night Has Come, uses some glorious 3- or 4-part vocal harmonies to great effect in a dark but moving song.

Holding all this together are the musical dexterity of all the band, and Dyanne's vocals, which are strong, tender, hypnotic and evocative. Earlier this year (2019) the band released a couple of singles, which extend the band's reach a little further. Blood and Water uses keyboards as well as piano, and has more of a folky feel to it, perhaps through the use of Annie Haslam on vocals alongside Dyanne, each with equal strength. This Winters Child, released earlier this month, is a wonderfully jazzy piece, mostly in 11/8 and joyously evocative (that word again!) of the season.

All of this enriching, life-affirming music is available on Bandcamp and elsewhere, and is well worth exploring further.