When singer-songwriter Dawn Landes drops by the Beat Kitchen on Chicago’s north side for a show on February 9th, she’ll be promoting her newly released CD, Sweet Heart Rodeo. When I reviewed her last effort, Fireproof, for the Illinois Entertainer in 2008, I didn’t think of Landes as a Country & Western artist. It was hard to pin a label on her eclectic music, and I doubt Sweet Heart Rodeo adheres to any one genre, despite the similarity of its name to a well known C&W record by The Byrds.
In my review of Fireproof, I noted that her poetic observations were set to consistently engaging techno-oriented and acoustic arrangements. The layered vocals and electronic quirks reflected her background as a professional recording engineer.
Fireproof showcased Dawn Landes’ penchant of oddball instrumentation and imaginative lyrics, and it’s a safe bet that Sweet Heart Rodeo carries on that tradition. It should be highly entertaining to experience her work in a live setting. Admission is $10.