Dakota Moon Niles MI

Dakota Moon

Dakota Moon

Elektra Records, 1998

REVIEW BY: George Agnos

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 07/30/1998

Dakota Moon is a new band with an interesting sound. Iaccidentally caught their act at a J&R Music World in-storeperformance while I was looking for some new CD's. I was soimpressed by them, I bought their self-titled CD even though I hadnever heard of them before I entered the store. They are a foursomethat sing smooth harmonies not unlike the R&B group Boyz IIMen, but they play acoustic guitars, bass, and percussion, and theymix different styles of music like folk, rock, R&B and countryinto a sound uniquely their own. Does the mixture of thesedifferent styles of music work? The answer, for the most part, isyes.

The album starts off strongly with the energetic "Another DayGoes By." The acoustic guitars crank up, the harmonies, led by leadsinger Ty Taylor, really soar and the rhythm section consisting ofbassist Ray Artis and percussionist Malloy provide a steady andsure backbeat. The production here like on the rest of the album iscrisp and uncluttered. Basically, everything about this songclicks.

They slow down on the next cut with a sweet ballad called "APromise I Make." This has to be the prettiest song I've heard in along time. This is where the Boyz II Men comparison really kicksin, if only that group could come up with a song this good. Taylorand the rest of the band show that they can sing both ballads anduptempo songs effectively. The next song "Violet" is another sweetballad just as pretty (I really can't remember the last time Iheard two back-to-back ballads I enjoyed so much). Malloy takes aturn on the lead vocals and does quite a good job.

Guitarist Joe Dean takes over the lead vocals for "She Knows"(Dakota Moon is not lacking in good singing). The song starts outat a slow tempo backed up with some soft but busy drumming fromMalloy, but then explodes into a boisterous and catchy chorus."Won't Be Alone Tonight" gives us a chance to hear the foursomesing acapella briefly before the instruments kick in. This is themost country-ish number on the album and would not sound be out ofplace on an Oak Ridge Boys or Alabama (remember them?) album.