Dandelions Dn Fire is an Italian project driven by composer and guitarist Simone Massaron, whose connection with Bozulich is presumably via LA guitarist Nels Cline. Opener “Never Saw Your Face” is a lowering two-chord drama with bowed bass and harmonium, and we are broadly in Tom Waits territory. Massaron, whose speciality is fretless guitar, also brings banjo and lap steel, and young Italian drummer Zeno de Rossi is moodily appropriate on brushes and junkyard percussion. Bozulich moves in restrained mode between tender and creepy; her lyrics and vocal performances are great, and because this is not her group she’s careful not to break out and start testifying. Tracks like “Five Dollar Lottery” are hypnotic, grinding riffs full of colour and menace, while for the title track it’s back to the sour sweet of Country: “When you shine, this dandelion’s on fire.”
Clive Bell