Dom De Luca
Toronto, Ontario, Canada | SELF
Music
Press
Dom Deluca is a self-taught guitar player and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who was inspired by folks like Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Ron Sexsmith. In classic singer/songwriter style, Deluca writes about life, love disappointment and disdain of both self and others. Deluca shows a talent for imaginative and memorable lyrics and melodies that stick around after his songs have ended. Deluca’s debut album, Birds Of Worry, is a dazzling display of song craft and charisma that will keep you glued to your seat.
Deluca opens with It’s A Sad, Sad Day, a wry yet gloomy song featuring subtle pedal steel guitar work and a pleasant melody. Deluca’s voice has an easy feel that makes his songs go down like Jell-O. My Defenses Up is a fun and lively song that will make you want to get up and dance. I’ve Been Fine is a catchy lead in to the introspective trepidation of Birds Of Worry. Deluca slips in Toronto, a love song to his home town; it’s perhaps just south of hokey but charming in its own right. Deluca follows this with I Pray And I Hope, a song that focuses on not losing what’s good. But Deluca saves the best for last. Song To My City is incredibly personal and honest; powerful in its simplicity. This is one of those great story songs that you’ll find yourself pondering from time to time long after the CD has stopped spinning.
Dom Deluca has a penchant for raw and honest story songs that make you think and feel. Birds Of Worry is a great introduction to Deluca. There’s no fireworks here, just good steady entertainment that asks you to actively listen. Deluca follows in the path of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Ron Sexsmith as thinking man’s songwriters. Birds Of Worry is definitely worth making some time for.
- WILDY'S WORLD MUSIC BLOG
Dom Deluca is a man with an acoustic guitar. He’s influenced by the greats and isn’t ashamed to admit it. In fact, I think if you told Dom that he reminds you of people like Dylan or Van Zandt (although, I’m not sure how Matthew heard Dave Matthews), he’d take it as a compliment instead of a backhanded slap. I even hear a similarity between Deluca and Ian Love solo's work, but what it comes down to is sometimes - just sometimes - a man with a guitar, a nasally voice and a life full of heartache is enough to make you smile and sing-along.
Birds of Worry is a collection of songs that don’t waver very far from the traditional singer songwriter patterns we all love, and rely on only a smattering of support (occasional lap steel, electric, organ and percussion), but it’s hard to turn the disc off. His voice is comforting and charismatic, and the familiar strum patterns make every song seems like something you unearthed from a yard sale find. We spend hours over analyzing the music we digest, but Dom takes us back to a time where it was okay to like the simple strums and associated stories.
- HERO HILL
Canadian Dom Deluca's first album is a joy from start to finish. A twelve song collection of self-penned songs, I've enjoyed the several listens I have had of this album.
If less is more, then the sheer simplicity of much of this album makes for something of pretty high stauture. Often just himself and an acoustic guitar, this is a quietly very effective listen. Driving around town in a mood that could be described as very black, the lightness of touch of the musicianship, the songs and his voice, couldn't fail to lift my spirits. He clearly writes from the heart, and his affection for Toronto and Canada comes through on this album, without any petty nationalistic concerns, which is particularly admirable.
The album doesn't re-write the rock hand book, and I'm even less sure what 'folk' means with every year that passes. As Morrissey once sang 'and I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar/that it meant that you were/a protest singer.' Dom Deluca is not a protest singer, I don't want to pigeonhole him, other than to say: File under damn fine singer-songwriter.
LINK...
http://www17seconds.blogspot.com/2008/05/album-review-dom-deluca.html - 17 SECONDS MUSIC BLOG
1. Wedding Present - 'The Trouble With Men.' mp3
2. MGMT - 'Time To Pretend.' mp3
3. Santogold - 'My Superman.' mp3
4. Jamie Lidell -'Another Day.' mp3
5. Kills -'Cheap and Cheerful.' mp3
6. Dom DeLuca -'Birds Of Worry.' mp3
7. Hayman Watkins Trout and Lee -'Sly and the Family Stone.' mp3
8. Vampire Weekend -'The Kids Don't Stand A Chance.' mp3
9. Neon Neon -'I Lust U.' mp3
10.Rustie -'Mic Of The Year.' mp3
LINK...
http://www17seconds.blogspot.com/2008/07/2008-best-so-far.html - 17 SECONDS MUSIC BLOG
Discography
2008 - Birds Of Worry
2010 - A Bell I Gotta Ring
Photos
Bio
“I don’t care, it’s a bell I gotta ring. Talk of danger and of other awful things. I don’t care, I don’t care, it’s a bell I gotta ring.”
That lyric, from his new song and new record, “A Bell I Gotta Ring”, sums Dom De Luca up. It’s not a matter of want, but need.
Townes Van Zandt was the first songwriter who truly opened up his eyes, his mind and his heart to the craft. “I haven’t closed them since.” Dom says with a smile. Writing simply and directly and with a keen eye for the details of life and a storyteller’s flare for drama and metaphor, De Luca is driven to get it all out in melody and rhyme.
Back in 2008, De Luca released a laid back folk record called, “Birds Of Worry”, which received plenty of radio play on CBC, CKLN, CIUT, BREAKTHRU, INDIE LOVE, AMHERST ISLAND RADIO, CANOE 100.9. Well reviewed in various blogs, BOW even lead Dom to Halifax, where he was invited to play the IN THE DEAD OF WINTER ACOUSTIC FESTIVAL in January of 2009.
Now, after months of prep and recording at CBC STUDIOS, in downtown Toronto, Dom De Luca is back with a more polished and diverse collection of tunes that are of a much more personal nature than those on his first record, “I may have run out of beans to spill.”, Dom jokes. “But, I have to or else it’s all just an empty and meaningless creative exercise. Picture a house without a door. There’s no point inviting people over, if you’re not going to let them in.” Delicate, aching love songs of hope and despair - a somber, epic tale about one’s domestic pain birthing another’s domestic joy - rousing folk-rockers that tear the roof off the joint - to joyful, ear-candy, folk-pop expressions of love and delighted obsession. These are the irresistibly catchy songs that make up A BELL I GOTTA RING. “I put a heart on the cover of the record. ‘Nuff said.”
In fact, if one word could sum up Dom De Luca it would be “heart.” “Follow it and you’ll serve yourself. Ignore it and you’ll serve someone else.”
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