The first minute of White Hinterland’s new album, Baby, features nothing but the voice of Casey Dienel. “Circle the block in my car/Gotta keep it down/The world is so full of noise/It’s easy to go unnoticed,” she sings in an assertive, slightly vulnerable and quite noticeable delivery. It’s an apt opening, as White Hinterland is an intimate, one-woman show from top to bottom.
Dienel’s debut record, Wind-Up Canary, released under her own name at age 21, surfaced in 2006. Two years later she rechristened herself White Hinterland — which she chose for its wintery, “Tolkien-esque” feel — and proceeded to drop a pair of soulful R&B- and Pop-inflected records (2008’s Phylactery Factory and 2010’s Kairos), set apart by their dreamy, impressively textured atmospherics.
Four years in the making, Baby is a departure of sorts, which makes sense since Dienel conceived and recorded it by herself in a makeshift, Pro Tools-enhanced studio in her parents’ basement.
“Songs carry so much emotional content,” Dienel recently told Philthy Mag. “I think that’s what connects with me when I’m listening, and it’s the thing that connects what I do with those listening. … For me to really hold up my end of the bargain, I need that intimacy intact. Production is the natural extension of that. What you’re hearing is a direct from me to you. Zero translation.”
Sure enough, Baby sounds like Fiona Apple minus the fancy session players, its programmed beats and electronic loops providing a sturdy backdrop for Dienel’s expressive vocals and deeply personal lyrical concerns.
WHITE HINTERLAND with FATHERS plays MOTR Pub Saturday, June 21. More info here.
