DAVID WOLFENBERGER || World of the Satisfy'n Place
Blue Jordan
release date: December 2001
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Matthew Ralph

While he may not have been blessed with the most marketable of names, this Cincinnati-based singer/songwriter has been blessed immeasurabely when it comes to writing and singing songs, not to mention putting together a record. It didn't take me long to reach this conclusion, in fact when I first got the CD in the mail I gave a premature "What the heck?" to the name, heard "Bury Me at Ivesdale", and was hooked.

I know most people reading this are already thinking, "great, another singer/songwriter guy," but this fella isn't singing about the local coffeeshop's latte's or "jamming" out with his acoustic guitar, putting music to poetry (or is it the other way around?). Following the somewhat morbid opener, perhaps one of the most upbeat songs about death I've heard in some time, "Halfway Around the World" takes on an alt-countrified Mark Kozelek feel to it. Here, Wolfenberger's fragile voice and melancholy lyrics take center stage with the subtle drums, slide guitar, and acoustic blending nicely in the background.

Losing the listener a bit with the more upbeat "Rainy Weather" and "You and Me and I Am", Wolfenberger's quiets things down with "'Til April's Gone," a mellow acoustic number. An intermission of carnival sounds creates a natural break and then gives way to "The Blade it Cuts Both Ways," another morbid song that wrestles with the hypocricy and evil every person is capable of. Talking about Jeffrey Dahmer killing and cutting up kids in one line he then talks about the evil within himself that he has to keep locked up, singing "I will have to pay for this somehow", while in the end explaining the title "the blade it cuts both ways." Musically, its the most countrified of the tunes, further creating the mixture of alt-country and folk on the album as hints of bluegrass linger somewhere nearby.

Wolfenberger the storyteller takes shape in the song "Paul" as he recounts the story of Paul in the Bible and his dramatic conversion from a persecutor of Christians to one of the great preachers of the gospel written about in scripture. Like Paul, Wolfenberger explains, we all go through journeys and travels, thus relating and tying together the story in a very literary and non-preachy way (unlike what the average "Christian" artist would probably do). He follows it up with another story about a girl from Fairfax in "Fairfax Girl (The Price of Life)", again finding a way to relate it all to something bigger and the question of good and evil in the world in which we live.

Profound statements continue in the song "Stealin' the Lines" an enchanting tune that takes on a unique identity from the rest of the songs on the album. At one point he sings "I'm worried less about tomorrow than I was just yesterday" and continues making similar play with words to construct a hopeful song to light the path of the journey he spoke of a few songs earlier in "Paul."

"From a Field, July, 1975" ends with just Wolfenberger on piano, a beautiful little song of triumph and hope that would fit perfectly during the credits of a film, alongside perhaps a Rufus Wainwright song or something of that caliber. Playing a simple repeating melody on the piano, he sings, "I need no reasons, no I need no fears, I can stand on a mountain and see God from here. I need no worries like the birds of the air. You could beat or amuse me and I wouldn't care. So secure am I." Though the record as a whole is not without its dull moments, this song gently packages an enjoyable collection written and performed by an artist with an inspiring literary voice, not to mention a distinctive singing voice.

posted 1.22.02