Dina Maccabee - Little Bite
Singer-songwriter and violist Dina Maccabee premieres “Little Bite” on Rawckus Magazine. The song is the first single from Maccabee’s forthcoming album, The Sharpening Machine.
Dina Maccabee
Maccabee describes “Little Bite,” saying, “It speaks to the challenge of learning to accept yourself as you are, while also feeling like you have to measure up to societal ideals.”
Except for the intervention of serendipity, The Sharpening Machine wouldn’t exist. Maccabee accidentally came across a cache of unfinished material on an old hard drive. Intrigued, Maccabee resuscitated the tunes with Los Angeles recording engineer Evan Collins Conway.
“With each project I come closer to distilling the different sounds I’ve been chasing for the last 15 years. The Sharpening Machine seems to be one more stop on a winding journey, and I’m learning to have the courage to reveal my weirder side. These songs combine my urge to experiment with the desire to connect,” explains Maccabee.
Maccabee’s sound amalgamates the warmth of pop with daring, surprising innovations, akin to the edgy vision of Beck and the anti-folk/freak folk scene.
Maccabee’s sound amalgamates the warmth of pop with daring, surprising innovations, akin to the edgy vision of Beck and the anti-folk/freak folk scene. It’s a sound that refuses to be slotted into a specific category or genre, while at the same time revolving around Maccabee’s attraction to acoustic instruments.
Since graduating from Wesleyan University’s M.A. program in 2015, Maccabee has been part of Julia Holter’s touring and recording group, as well as collaborating with artists such as Feist, Tune-Yards, Carla Bozulich, Idina Menzel, Sharon Jones, Donovan, and Vienna Teng, along with others. Along the way, she released two solo albums, an EP, and two singles to vast acclaim, as well as writing Sweet Land, a musical, and adapting Gertrude Stein’s The World Is Round for the theater.
“Little Bite” opens on elegant strings flowing into a see-sawing melody riding a syncopated rhythm, as Maccabee’s dreamy voice floats deliciously overhead. Suffused with quasi-experimental fusion jazz ambiance, the tune streams variegated layers of dissonant colors coalescing into moody textures.
A dazzling antiphonal refrain infuses the tune with bravura vocal harmonies, giving the music a delightful sonic pressure as vocal bursts echo back and forth.
“Little Bite” is superbly fashionable, blending consonance and dissonance into burnished effusions of scrumptious textures, ranging from harsh to harmonious. The overall effect is stylishly sui generis.
