Dani Bell and the Tarantist - Wide Eyed - Music & Performance - CD

2018 release. With their sophomore record Wide Eyed, Dani Bell and the Tarantist awake from the dreamy pop reveries that fueled their 2015 debut, to contend with a present day that's taken a greater emotional toll. While Dark West lent the intimacy of Bell's vulnerable vocals to romantic whispers, here they're compelled to answer the shifting contexts of an unsettling world, offering turns of disenchantment, wariness, and resilience. The album opens with a track fittingly titled "The End," a tapestry of sitar-tinged acid rock that ushers the listener into an altered state while Bell dispassionately intones, "I wish that this would end." Subsequent tracks find her bristling with energy, awed and made restless by twisting truths and cultural divisiveness. Throughout, the musical performances echo the clouding uncertainty, with a palette edged by squealing guitars, and distorted radio static. However, propelled by warm, often bouncy vintage bass tones, the compositions ultimately succeed in mining optimism from stark beginnings, offering the sort of blissful release only afforded by music.