The Bad and the Beautiful

About the Album

Diane Gentile sees her songs in her head before she hears them. They come to her as emotionally evocative scenes that she then soundtracks. Her songs are abstractions of life, brimming with sharp wordplay and juicy narratives. Diane & The Gentle Men’s latest, The Bad and the Beautiful, out September 15 on Velvet Elk Records, is a scrapbook of vignettes, featuring endearing but poetically flawed protagonists sketched with Diane’s literate flair and doused in classic NYC rock n’ roll swagger.

In the world of the The Bad and the Beautiful, private pain and unquenchable longing are tucked away under tattoos and matted hair; transcended through blissful dance sessions and carefree trysts; and bravely addressed in quiet solitude. “I have a lot of love for humanity, and the characters in this album are beautiful and ‘bad’ in the best possible way,” the New York City-based songwriter says.

Tucked away in The Bad and the Beautiful are stories of Diane, and her community of fun-loving artistic eccentrics. There is a Shakespearean quality to these narratives where the main characters are somewhat gloriously tragic, testing boundaries, pushing limits, sometimes playfully and sometimes heartbreakingly.

The single, “Walk With Me,” a duet with Alejandro Escovedo, features sadly beautiful lyrics that are in contrast to the music’s moody Americana. The two singers pass the baton seamlessly, trading verses and harmonizing choruses. The lyrics exude a literate-punk flair, and one choice passage is: All those tattoos on your skin/Hiding scars deep within/You don’t tell anyone about it/It’s all color and design to disguise them. James Maddock guests on vocals and guitar on song, “Lace Up Your Sneakers,” which intriguingly contrasts a reminiscence of a sweet slacker who eventually overdosed with invigorating disco.

The pensive folk-rock track, “Dance ’til Dawn,” puts front and center Diane’s pristine vocals and literate lyrics. Here, she sings about those fleeting days when you’re a 20 something and all your worries melt away on the dance floor. The melancholic song “Far Away Down The River,” and the dreamy “Fade Away Author” reveal insights into Diane’s life story. Other tracks like “Shimmy” and the Jesse Malin-produced “Sugarcane” kick up some classic NYC dirty rock n’ roll. The 10-song collection concludes with the fragile ballad “Kiss the Sky,” a loving tribute to the life and insanity of the comedian and actor John Belushi. Diane’s lyrics frame him with tenderness. She sings: You were kind/You were bad/Place a bet/Lose your hat/You’re always throwing punches just to get a rise/You’re always stealing kisses with the Devil’s smile.