Drawing her influences from her deep feelings and personal experiences, Canadian singer/songwriter Danielle Shroeder dropped her latest EP Ancient Desire on the 4th of April 2023 in collaboration with many amazing musicians. Ancient Desire is a product and reflection on the pandemic years, so as you’ll hear it has a storytelling mellow style that’ll get you instantly hooked.
Opening with the title track Ancient Desire, Danielle Shroeder sets up her warm sound right from the start. It has an easy-going mellow flow with inviting vocals and deep hearty melodies. The atmospheric elements played a huge role in setting and maintaining the mood, the soothing guitar arpeggios, the heavy bass, groovy drumming, and the well-placed and arranged violins all came together in a solid flow. Moonlight Embers picks up Ancient Desire‘s mood and builds up on it, adding a more groovy pace and percussive flow while seeking more structure progression, all while keeping the chill mood uncompromised. Keep Moving comes next with a soft intro that smoothly shifts into an upbeat groovy tune, taking the record’s dynamic flow to the next level. The piano added a new layer to SCHROEDER‘s sound mix, and the Conversation going between her vocal melodies and the piano reminded me a lot of Dolores O’Riordan‘s work. Pushing more towards a bigger, more dynamic sound, Fighting Injustice comes next. It has a playful moving flow with catchy guitars and vocal delivery that shake things off, putting the listeners into swaying mode with its incredible guitar work and streaming flow. Ending the EP on a highly emotional and melodic note comes Meandering Time. It has some well-written violins and cello that were beautifully layered with the piano and topped by SCHROEDER‘s haunting vocals, in an arrangement that’s giving every element the time and space to shine and be heard appropriately.
Ancient Desire is a solid brief EP that shows Danielle SCHROEDER‘s writing skills and well knowledge of her mood and direction. She managed to keep her mood intact while changing the EP’s dynamics, without compromising her sound or approach. Looking forward to more from Danielle SCHROEDER, Keep on rocking. Cheers!