Soulful Pop
With its pitch-perfect blend of quirky romanticism and sweetly unpretentious vocal delivery, Dan Zdilla’s Behold and Lo captures what the Lancaster, PA songwriter does best. His music is awash in Beatles-drenched arrangements that for all their musical complexity take their place as canvas for the real creative focus of the songs, Zdilla’s expressive melodies and slyly simple lyrics that deepen on every listen. The musicianship is consistently outstanding and all of the performers involved give the songs an emotional heft not typical of your boilerplate studio musicians.
The sound summons into mind greats from the pop pantheon like the Kinks and the Beatles but also nods to more soulful performers like Van Morrison and Paul Simon. These eight songs are a great introduction to Zdilla’s signature style: long ponderous verses that build unexpectedly toward hooks–guaranteed to be your car or shower singing standards–that meditate playfully on death, love and finding comfort with both. But each song is delivered with such attention to idiosyncrasy that any one can easily stand on its own feet.
