Category: News

Latest happenings

2013

I had a good year. Did my first solo shows. Released a new album.

Got on some favorite of the year lists. That makes me happy.

Even having reviewers mention my music is a nice boost.

Thanks to all of you who have supported my music, I know it’s not pop so the masses won’t understand it. I wouldn’t change it to be popular, but I am so thrilled when others like it.

I am busy making another album. This one is coming out different yet again.

I change with my influences.

It Is All an Illusion

Diane Marie Kloba’s  fifth solo album titled It Is All an Illusion. It is available worldwide now.The recording continues the sonic exploration of her work and with some return to alternative rock styles, it also introduces a broader use of synthesizer to set the mood.

This album has a song that made number 14 on the Festive Fifty for 2013 on Dandelion Radio and received good reviews. (see review section)

The song themes are a development of the more haunting songs on I Am an Unknown Artist. The focus is on the struggle to rise above the effects of a sudden, unexpected loss. Still, before its conclusion, Diane Marie Kloba’s trademark hopefulness shines through, along with her fascination with weather and the heavens.

Please check the review or about section if you wish to know more about her music

I Am an Unknown Artist

I Am an Unknown Artist is Diane Marie Kloba’s fourth album, released March 8, 2011.

Its musical foundation is built of Diane’s own guitars, vocals and acoustic percussion with occasional contributions from a small group of collaborators. The voices on I Am an Unknown Artist are always emotive, ranging from lullaby-sweet (“To Live Up to It”) through urgent hollering (“Diane Has Words”) to haunted (“It Rained”).

The lyrics grow from self-reflection tempered with a dose of humor and of wordplay. The album opens with a love song (“To Live Up To It”) but thoughts soon turn to the nature of creativity, motivation, persistence and the passage of time. The hypnotic “That’s How It Goes” finds the singer stargazing and draws parallels between light pollution obscuring the night sky and human isolation. A wry raggedness shows up on “It Was Me”, a lumbering and clamorous reworking of the “it’s not you—it’s me” cliché. Surf guitar and spy music themes are reduced to their bare essentials on the rocker “No Standing Still”, telling of a soul on the mend pushing forward.

There are some departures from earlier work: There is a more intimate treatment of the vocals and an introduction of some orchestral textures. To help get this done, Kloba enlisted mix engineer Ryan Albrecht, better known in classical circles, and Grammy-winning perfectionist mastering engineer Bob Katz to add final polish.

Despite the newfound textures and polish, I Am an Unknown Artist still emphasizes the economy employed in Kloba’s prior recordings. Nothing is wasted; what is present is essential and empty space is given its due respect.

For You, Stranger

For You, Stranger was released on august 12, 2008.

It marked the start of Diane Marie Kloba’s most overtly experimental effort, intentionally shunning pop conceits, but still keeping the idea of the song as a short and self contained work.

Messages from the Ionosphere

Messages from the Ionosphere was released May 31, 2005 on Striped Shirt Records.

Messages from the Ionosphere featured some of the bigger guitar sounds that Diane favored before I Kid You Not; there are also a couple acoustic numbers singer-songwriter tunes and one piece of “beat poetry” with just flute, words, and percussion. Of course there are songs about star watching, appreciating joys of life and dreams, both the day and night varieties. With her poetry sometimes comes a bit of silliness, finding humor in seriousness.