Album Review: Danni Nicholls - Making Moves

 

Danni Nicholls ascends onto a new plateau reflecting movement in many forms. A key constant to capture the moment is still intact after many years seeking the sweet spot where artist curation and audience reception meet. MAKING MOVES represents change where polished building blocks raise the stature without removing the trusty foundation formed over time. The wait between defining studio releases evaporates in an instant when the luscious tone of the new album sweeps you away. A renewed spark ignites a soundscape where a combination of influences and inputters carve a record packed with resonating, relatable poignancy. 

The strength of Danni Nicholls’ writing is to crack the mirror and piece together the order of existence into meaningful assertions. Some writers thrive on character, others on place, here we have one immersed in experience and expressing the utterly personal. The eleven songs forming this exceptional body of work drool with esteemed class. They represent a calling and never lose sight that listener reaction is at the heart of a commercial existence. Danni Nicholls attains the utopia of achieving this on her terms. 

Enlisting the help of others has served her well in the past and is at the fore of the new record. When you work alongside creators of the ilk of Robby Hecht, Amelia White, Michele Stodart and Kyshona Armstrong to name a few, the benefits can only be positive. Community is at the heart of this phase of Danni Nicholls’ career and the move to Nashville has solidified the impact. An American sheen is clearly visible, yet the Bedford-Brighton axis embeds at the core as a reminder of the strive that formed the artist today.

The picture painted in opening line ‘everything I own is on my front lawn’ evocatively sets the tone of seismic change with the title ‘Free Wheel’ acting as the perfect metaphor for striking out to find your zone. Launching an album on such an assured footing eases the transition from artist to an wholly engaged listener. You sense the journey is going to be eventful and even before listening to the album, titles such as ‘Love is Letting Go’, ‘The Pendulum’ and ‘The Wreckage’ offer a sense of challenge. What you don’t expect is the mask removing exposure powerfully expressed in ‘Honey’, a track you instantly want to repeat - radio edit or not.

The lengthy stint between song sharing and release is obviously an act of circumstance but the initial impact of hearing ‘I’ll Carry on’ live ferments nicely when glistening in the final quarter of a record making its 42-minute running time flash by in an instant. There is not a filler in this 11-track collection with the higher than usual plane of production a credit to Sarah Peacock at the helm and the team of accomplished players applying a glossy coating to what are essentially raw emotive songs. 

Danni Nicholls absorbs the influences around her and utilises inner talents epitomised by a voice primed for effect. MAKING MOVES is a significant stake in the ground. No album will eradicate the material that made this widely respected artist a grassroots UK treasure. However, here is a marker of time and ideal for magnifying the magic moments that evolving music presents.