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“Here’s the tip: the boys at the Butterfly Club know their talent. They were the first local promoters to present the debut shows of the then unknowns, Tim Minchin and Eddie Perfect. Making it a sweet trifecta is Brisbane-based, androgynous-voiced Jacob Diefenbach.”
Lily Bragge, The Age, 10/01/2009
“The Brisbane-based singer-songwriter, with the dimpled smile and the sweet androgynous voice, had the audience completely entranced”
Aussietheatre.com
“… Ripping Stories is a glimpse into a world that is much like our own, but where things come into focus in ways they’ve never done before. No matter how many confessional singer/songwriters you’ve got in your record collection, to listen to Diefenbach is to see things differently.”
Brandon K. Thorpe, Mogenic.com
“Jacob is almost intimidatingly talented as a lyricist, composer and producer … He seems to hold little back, and is oblivious to what others would consider “risky” material … Each of his songs is a major exploration of the human experience and a refreshingly intriguing journey into the possibilities of arrangement and production.”
John Frame, "Queer Radio"
“Don't go trying to lump Jacob Diefenbach into a musical category, it really isn't that simple. Using dramatic, cabaret piano-pop as a vehicle to deliver 11 tales of confessional story-telling, Ripping Stories For Boys exudes class, charm, wit and blatant honesty.”
Ben Preece, Time Off
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In the densely-populated ghetto of contemporary singer/songwriters, the word "unique" can rarely be used with any real meaning. Love it or not, Jacob Diefenbach's androgynous voice and unconventional brand of cabaret hits mighty close to the mark.
The Age Newspaper describes Diefenbach as a pathological chronicler of the human condition, which is an apt description for the Brisbane-based artist, whose music hails from “other side of the pride”; themes of identity, sexuality and the many and varied masks we were in day-to-day life resonate throughout.
This is, perhaps, unsurprising for an artist who originally hails from Central Queensland, where good boys played football (not the piano … and certainly not with barbies). But Diefenbach’s disarmingly open and honest demeanour and sweet, androgynous vocal sound are in stark, sublime contrast to his hard-hitting and undeniably moving subject matter.
Diefenbach's dark, energetic - often clasically-inspired - melodies are driven by keyboard skills that have been described as "prodigious", and vocals that truly deliver.
Jacob has created a stir with his electric live performances.
Most recently, and most significantly, Diefenbach has been awarded Victoria’s coveted Green Room Award for “Best Original Songs” in cabaret (including a nomination for "Best Production" in Cabaret).
In just a few short years on the music scene, he’s also picked up Best Cabaret at the 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival, a Matilda nomination for “Best Musical” (having penned the original score to Lady of the House of Love, starring Sandro Colarelli), performed as the featured emerging artist for the Brisbane Cabaret Festival, along with supports for The Dresden Dolls locally and abroad, Kate Miller-Heidke and Paul Capsis.
Downside Up, which he co-wrote and starred in with local singer-songwriter Emma Dean, performed to a full house earlier this year.
Diefenbach is moving from strength to strength, and doing it fast.
His latest creation, “Facing The Music”, is a darkly comical and shameless self-referential look at what it takes to “make it” in the music biz.
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