Don’t Let it Fall by Dan Ferrari (Music Review by A.L. Harper)
Dan Ferrari may be the saving grace of pop music. His fresh, upbeat, catchy sound, intimate, heart-felt lyrics, faultless musicianship and emotive vocals are everything pop music should be. In these days of homogeneous, artistically void pop he is the fresh breeze you have been waiting for. This winner of the Abe Olman Songwriting Scholarship Award 2007 and a finalist in the New York Songwriters Circle Songwriting contest, for his song “Heard From You” – which features on his new album Don’t Let it Fall –is the next big thing in the pop-world.
The 25-year-old New Jersey native’s sound is both pop and rock and his new album Don’t Let it Fall, is resplendent with harmonies and melodies, lustful, deeply personal lyrics, and passionate, engagingly honest vocals. Love songs filled with such fresh pain, longing, and sensual loss that you would be forgiven for thinking it was just yesterday she walked out. Even with his enviable vocal abilities it’s Ferrari’s compellingly emotional lyrics that will keep you listening.
Ferrari’s talent lies in painting a stirring and deeply personal portrait of his life, mostly his love life, that is all at once libidinous and winsome, passionate and friendly. You get a glimpse inside the painful heart of someone coming to terms with love lost, and desire through his songs, including title track “Don’t Let it Fall”; “I wish I was the smile dancing on your lips/ I wish was the t-shirt lying across your skin/ I wish was the button on your favourite pair of jeans/ so close to you, there’s nowhere I’d rather be”. Also expertly woven through second track “Never Not Want You”; “I’ve tried so hard to break free, but I’ll never not want you/ I wait for you to come back to me, I’ll never not want you/ I reach out for help but I’ll never not want you/ I’ve tried to love someone else but I’ll never not want you”.
“Stuck in My Head” is an indie-rock song with a catchy guitar riff, those self-same fabulous lyrics and Ferrari’s addictive voice. The next song, “Heard From You”, is a moving-on song, but this time rather than a lost lover, it’s a lost father song. Based on Ferrari’s best-friend, who was abandoned by his father at the tender age of 10, Ferrari says “[“Heard From You”] captures what I interpret my best friend Mike would say to his father right now… I really became the representative for my Mike and said everything
that he has always wanted to say to his father. That is something that really means a lot to me.”
More notable tracks include “Blanket”, a pure-pop ballad with the fabulous lyric “My body used to be your blanket, I kept you warm at night”, it is the only track on the album not at least co-written by Ferrari. “Naked” is another indie rock/power-pop song with soul-baring lyrics and perfect vocals. “Turning into Someone Else” is an acoustic feel rock ballad, slower and more raw than anything else on the album. In Don’t Let it Fall Ferrari and producer John Lardieri have created an album that is like having an intimate talk with an old friend. Warm, friendly but deeply intimate, things only a close friend would tell you and even then, some of secrets will make you blush from the intimacy of the confidence or steamy honest content.
Don’t Let it Fall is a must have for anyone who loves pop music or intelligent, well written lyrics. You can listen to a few track for yourself at Dan’s MySpace space, or you can purchase Don’t Let it Fall from CDBaby or iTunes.
A.L. Harper is a freelance writer and motorbike fanatic originally from Salt Lake City, Utah but now living in Scotland. In edition to being the Managing Editor for All Things Girl, A.L. is the Assistant Music Editor for Blogcritics.org and a freelance writer for hire.
