Dianna Cristaldi (http://www.diannamusic.com) has a timeless voice that can be compared to that of Marianne Faithfull. Just when you think that country music has lost its pulse arrives Cristaldi to pump soul into the genre once again. Of course, this isn't commercial country; the corporate heads stateside have divided the genre into two categories - Young Country for the kids and pop refugees and Americana for the purists. Cristaldi actually occupies the space between the two.
Sweeping violins and plaintive mandolin add texture and bittersweet imagery to the opening cut, "I've Got Nothing Left." Cristaldi sings from the point of view of someone who has just been jilted. The difference, though, is that Cristaldi's broken heart has no more tears to shed; it's the most painful of separations, no hard feelings left just burned-out scars. Cristaldi looks to God to find solace, as on "Open Hand" and "Radiant Love," but never comes across as the artificially joyful Bible thumpers clogging the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene.
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The ghosts of 9/11 are felt on "Far Away" and "No More." On "Far Away," Cristaldi sings of religious tolerance in a paranoid age in which we don't know who are enemies are while "No More" seems to address the young bodies being sent to fight the war in Iraq ("We've seen our children off to shore/Can't hear their voices anymore"). Both are equally powerful statements free of preachiness.
The album has a smooth polish but none of it is too slick. Cristaldi keeps it real, musically and lyrically.
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