Dale Nikkel

Band Folk Acoustic

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"Passages Review"

I am new to Dale Nikkel and pleased to have had the good fortune to
review this finely crafted album of acoustic, country and folky pop
songs.

From a living room fireside observational to a hospital bedside prayer,
Nikkels songs artfully tether his shifting and uncertain place in the
world to the anchor of his newly growing family.

The opening track ‘These Are The Glory Days’ genuinely reminds us that
nothing can be taken for granted with just his guitar and Dale’s high
gentle timbre voice. Introductions now over we move into acoustic
country territory with “Heathrow” being an enjoyable muse on how
airports and hearts have more in common than we care to admit. This is
a catchy song reminiscent of west coast pop folkster Garry Jules.

Acoustic pop is the next destination with the ironic but not too
earnest “Worry Is My Way Of Loving You”. Here the band finds it’s
stride with the Hammond organ bedding down nicely.
Just when I thought the sound of the album was pegged Dale surprises me
with a country breeze with tremolo guitar and a canine monologue that
reminisces on the late family favourite Moppy in ‘Everybody Knows How
to Pet A Dog’. An honest message resolving to the wisdom that it’s
sometimes easier to communicate warmth to ‘mans best friend’ than those
dearest to us.

As in life, the left of field catches me with Dale’s hospital bedside
prayer ‘Closer To the Flame’ leaving the listener to wonder if the song
is inspired by an anxious maternity ward wait or something much darker,
either way, we are reminded of our own times when a candle and a prayer
were all we might have had to illuminate the way.

The weather, like childbirth is an unpredictable business with ‘Any
Day’ being a straight up fun country pop song that demands an April
frozen Saskatchewans “waters to break” so that “I can see my baby” in
time for summer, Dale is having fun at no ones expense here.

The record now takes a sombre turn with a dedication to a lost friend
who’s mental illness leaves too many in it’s tragic wake. This pause
for thought is cushioned with the following guitar and dobro
instrumental ‘Westminster Morning’, an elegant and simple duet.
‘Here We Go Again’ makes moving house a cause for a song with a skip
and how a galloping heart has to run it’s course.

Track 10 is my favourite on the record with ‘Silver And Gold’ mining
the elusive treasures of the heart and how the material distortions of
life can obscure our own star of providence. I was half expecting the
yearning voice of EmmyLou Harris to join in the second chorus as the
albums production drifts towards a sensibility akin to the aesthetic of
Daniel Lanois. This sonic prediction is fully realised in the breathy
and atmospheric closing prayer ’Listen Close’.

This album is all heart without any cheese or self absorbed filler and
who’s stellar production is maintained throughout even though the album
was recorded and mixed in more than a couple of far flung studios
across Canada.

Passages is about as good as any independent singer songwriter album
can get.

- Penguin Eggs Magazine (Dave MacDonald , The Waifs)