Danielle Ate the Sandwich

So, I wish the title to this post was something witty that I came up with to describe this artist, but it's not...it's actually the name that this girl goes by.  It's pretty apparent by her name that she has a sense of humor, but I don't think that does it justice.  All of her videos have some weird little intro/outro to them that doesn't really make any sense, but does make me laugh a lot.

The more that I watched and listened to her music the more I realized how important her humor was to her sound.  One thing that it does is keep the mood of her music upbeat and light.  She has a very childlike quality about her and her music and I think the humor is a big part of that.  Even more importantly though, the humor really helps counteract the sincerity in her songs and make them that much more genuine.  I feel like listening to songs these days is like putting every singer through a lie detector.  You never know which of the artists actually wrote their music, actually went through the things their singing about, or are a 16 yr old boy who has no idea what love is, yet sings about it in every song. (No offense Biebs.  I love you, but come on)  With Danielle I think the honesty is oozing out of her notes, lyrics, and voice.

I also love that she rocks the Ukelele in most of her songs.  That instrument adds such a unique sound and feel to music when it's used well, and she is a pretty darn good Ukelele player.  The simplicity of her and her Uke is a beautiful thing.  For some groups like Arcade Fire the craziness of all sorts of different voices and sounds is a huge asset, but for Danielle I think it's the simplicity that really shows her talent and rawness.  Anyone can autotune or layer tons of stuff so their singing is covered, but if you can sit, play, sing and it still sounds good...you've got some talent.



She also does some cool covers:


Danielle does tour some.  She was just at the Hotel Cafe her in Los Angeles and I know she lives in Denver, so I'm sure you can catch a show of hers if you are interested.  If nothing else it will be fun and keep you in a great mood!  To finish it off here's probably my favorite song by her:



Here are some links for her:
danielleatethesandwich.net/
Danielle Ate the Sandwich Myspace
-Kev