 indie rock photography by jasper coolidge     
Denali 02.06.04
@ NorthSix Brooklyn If this were a right just world - or of it was one in which all of my opinions were gospel (mmmmm... gospel) - Denali would be as bigger than US Steel and Maura Davis would be the Stevie Nicks of our generation. As it is, they are steadily gaining a growing legion of fans and Maura continues to shock and amaze newbies and veterans alike with her absolutely towering inferno of a voice and stage presence. As evidenced by the success of their national tour with the Deftones last year (kids only threw stuff at them once!), Denali's sound and appeal can find and is deserving of an audience beyond their native Richmond, or the East Coast circuit, or their core of post-emo fans. And I can throw around all the reeking of thesaurus descriptors - dark and driving, gloomy yet soaring, raw but majestic, but none of them would prepare one for the songs live. The title track for their second album, The Instinct is just about the best opening for a show that there is, perfectly setting the tone for this Denali v2.0, the first time Maura and Cam DiNunzio had played without founding members Keeley Davis and Jonathan Fuller (who are now devoted full-time on the great Engine Down). And while without Keeley, there certainly wasn't as much sexy black on stage, the band barely missed a beat, playing with as much spark and aplomb as I remembered. I must admit though that Keeley was perfect compliment and foil for Maura's look and vibe, but it seems appropriate that she's out of big brother's shadow as much of the overlying theme of this album is seething with her strength of will and independent vision. In keeping with the whole theme of new, the debuting touring members Stephen Howard of Pinebender and Ryan Rapsys of Euphone performed more than admirably considering the huge shoes they were filling. And of course, Cam did was cam does, firing salvos of heavy guitar fire into the night sky. He mentioned to me that they didn't do too much tweaking with the songs, and by and large they sounded as they did in the past, but there was definitely something about Maura - from the pure rock star as can be Clash shirt to the way she moved and smiled with a spring and electricity that I'd never seen, she made a statement that is sure to continue into the coming year - this is her time to shine, and she'll be using all of her dark powers to do it. Denali's Myspace |
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