Artist in Profile: Casey Dienel/White Hinterland

Always ahead of the curve, Matthew Perpetua of, Fluxblog, in February 2006, claimed that Casey Dienel was "a much much much less precious version of Nellie McKay". McKay at that time being seemingly on the verge of super-stardom. I had never heard of Casey Dienel, but I was a fan of McKay, so I checked out the posted song. For once, I disagreed with Perpetua, and to this day believe that, even though Nellie McKay may have come first, his presumption was entirely incorrect.

Hailing from Massachusetts, Casey Dienel (now known as White Hinterland, but I'll talk about that later), puts off less of a vibe of the typical Nor'Easterner and more of the vibe of a traditional southern belle which is evident in the diction of the prose of her various online journals. At the time most of these entries focused more on pies and pancakes than on her music career or tour, and exposed Dienel for what she really is, a wholesome down-to-earth girl, the kind you just want to hang out with all summer. A girl in no danger of going the Lindsay/Britney route.

Wind Up Canary her debut album released in 2006 to much acclaim, and now her follow up album Phylactery Factory has been released under a new label and a new name. On January 4th, 2008, Dienel announced on her blog the effective death of Casey Dienel,

For the present and foreseeable future, there won't be any more Casey Dienel, unless you run into her while she's ordering a coffee or seeing a friend's show. If it's that Casey that you glimpse out there on the street, feel free to say hi. The other Casey has gone somewhere else, has been gone for awhile now. But all this is quite boring newstuff, compared to what else is to come!source

and changed her performing name to White Hinterland. To tell you the truth I don't like it, and to me she will be known as The Artist Formerly Known as Casey Dienel. In the end though, it doesn't matter what name she chooses to mark her career, as long as she stays true to her pie eating roots.

Check out White Hinterland Here and listen to some of her songs here

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Cross posted from the new Listen In Site!

© Jacob Nicolas Martinez 2007 for LISTEN IN some rights reserved

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