Daniel Rossen @ Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR

     Having a voice that is all your own is the essential key to creating something honest, and Daniel Rossen is a prime artistic example. He's nurtured and cultivated a style that only compares to itself. That style is unequivocally abundant on his 2022 record, which is Rossen's first full-length solo endeavor. On a world tour to promote You Belong There, Daniel arrived in Portland last night, welcomed by a sold-out Doug Fir Lounge.  
     Rossen has taken folk rock and aged it on a balance modernity and tradition. With the added grace of his haunting vocals and staggering musicianship, his work occasionally resembles grand, yet mournful chamber orchestration, which is at times almost medieval in essence. In recording the new album, Daniel even learned several unfamiliar instruments such as cello and various woodwinds to complete the bountiful soundscape. 
     Songs from previous solo attempts and projects, as well as special requests, were sprinkled into a set showcasing much of the new record. Flawlessly fluid five-digit finger picking stupefied onlookers with inhuman precision, cresting rolling waves of skill. Raw talent aside, he couldn't help but expose his appetite for perfectionism in the form of obsessing over miniscule details, undetectable by most, that surely contributed to the overall immaculate sonic illustration. Daniel spent the evening bouncing between three separate acoustic guitars and a piano. When the moment of the final song had arrived, he disappeared briefly and returned to reveal a banjo loaned to him by a patron for a rendering of the final song, "Balmy Night," by his college band Department of Eagles. By a genuine encore of hands and mouths that never dwindled, Rossen was drawn out for one last somber tune on piano. "Herringbone," another tribute to his pursuits in the days of academia, and part of an album dedicated to his late father, carried the night to a close on a soothing drift of remembrance. It's this sincere expression of self that will continue to ensure Daniel Rossen's shows reach full capacity and exceed expectations of auditory art.