Dafni’s mother tells a story that sounds like something out of a fable. When Dafni’s grandmother would sing in the hills around her home in Samos, Greece, her beautiful voice was so compelling that the villagers would stop what they were doing and listen. When the Italians invaded during World War II, Dafni’s grandfather went into hiding because he was in the resistance. His wife was also in danger, but an Italian soldier was so taken with her singing that he hid her from the authorities.
This musical talent lives on in Dafni, whom a friend called “the little girl with a big voice.” She embodies many contrasts, beyond that first, most obvious one. A writer of heartbreaking songs, she is also a doctor of chemistry. A haunter of late night dive bars, she exercises two hours a day. A polite Midwesterner, her drive rivals that of any other dreamer who strikes out for the West Coast. In Sweet Time, Dafni’s most personal album to date, sh...