Diana Zinni

Diana Zinni is the dreamy folk goddess you’ve been looking for. She’s playing at Bar Matchless in Brooklyn TONIGHT at 8PM sharp. She’s got soft crooning vocals, quirky instrumentals, and beautifully poetic lyricism. Zinni’s voice has the tendency to make you want to frolic through tulip fields, though it is soft and sweet enough to be a lullaby. Her song ‘More’ is a somber reflection on life lessons and motivations. Watch the fancy lyric video featuring The Little Prince and hand actors below! (www.youtube.com/dianazinni) Her song ‘The Moon’ is another example of Zinni’s talent for writing as well as melody. My favorite line is ‘I’ve got a god-like longing with a human reach.’ My favorite part of the melody comes at 2:26 only a few seconds before that line. Diana’s music is gorgeous and it feels so honest. If you check out her Facebook page, her status updates are all as wise and adorable as they are inspirational and heartfelt. Diana isn’t sugar-coating anything, but she seems ultra-sweet and somehow she manages to make her songs feel uplifting even when they lyrics are heartbreaking. Long story short, you should go see her perform tonight if you’re free! It’ll be nothing short of beautiful.
If you like: Norah Jones, Jenny Lewis, thinking about deciding between love and fear - Grey EPK

Today there are more ways than ever to pursue musical ambitions. You don’t even necessarily need to play an instrument. Most songs are written in a flurry of the moment while playing with loops and sound effects on a laptop. Although it doesn’t seem as common these days, writing a song with a piano or guitar coupled with a pen and notebook is as timeless as music itself. In today’s music landscape when you find an artist who can stand out with a simple piano and vocal recording it can stop you dead in your cynical tracks.
“More” is the first recording ever released by singer/songwriter Diana Zinni. The first track on her debut EP of the same name, “More” is a haunting piano ballad that showcases her impeccable vocal timbre and knack for writing introspective and deeply insightful lyrics. Starting with bridges burnt and lessons learnt, the lyrics articulate a story of rejecting an obligatory marriage proposal in order for the protagonist to chase aspirations. The chorus lines resonate with “Everybody’s got a card up their sleeve and one foot out the door, some just have an anchor that wont let them sail from the shore but we all want more”. The song is peppered with some twinkling ambient tones and backing vocals by music collaborator Bryan Kane of Bone Gunn.

The only other released track from the EP is the song “Ruins” which is full of interesting instrumentation. Acoustic and electric guitar, sliding bass line, and a twinkling synth decorate a driving drumbeat throughout the up-tempo jam. Diana flexes a little more soul inflection in her voice while singing lyrics describing a trip to find our ruins and alien robots. The song ends with the looped chant “We are the devils who made us all”. It’s a reminder that we are all in fact just animals. It’s a seriously fun musical trip. “Ruins” is the upbeat musical yang to the yin she laid out in “More” and certainly makes sense in the context of her only two released tracks.
When I reached out to Diana to tell her I’d like to write about her music, she was humble and excited as she explained her plans to release the other half of the EP in 2015. She sent me a private link and I can assure you that the next two tracks “The Moon” and “Kill The Hope” carry on the spiritual trip she started with her first two singles. She also mentioned that she has a whole album’s worth of material up her sleeve and ready to go.
Diana has long been in the shadows of the music industry while working on her craft, patiently waiting in the wings for her time to shine. At two years old she was inspired to write songs and perform after seeing the Beastie Boys “Fight For Your Right” music video. As fate would have it, after graduating from SUNY Oneonta’s Music Industry program, she went on to intern at Chung King Studios. The famous former “House of Metal” where Rick Rubin produced the Beastie’s debut License to Ill. Since then she has been instrumental in the mastering process of some of the biggest releases of the past decade while she worked at the prolific Joe Lambert Mastering studio in Brooklyn’s Dumbo. Click on the link to see the work that has passed through those doors to have your mind blown.
From what I can gather, Diana seems to be a serious artist that cares about expressing her spirit through her music regardless of musical trends. She sites Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Say Anything as influences and it seems fairly obvious in her music. In an era where the industry is not far off from the South Park parody seen in this past season’s “The Cissy” episode (Feelin’ good on a Wednesday…), it’s refreshing to find an artist that is writing and performing from the soul. This is just the beginning for her, but it definitely seems she knows where she’s going with her music career. She’s playing the hand she’s been dealt and I’m excited to see where her chips fall. I’m betting on her to win big. - Sounds Like Ear Candy