Psych Rock
American four piece, Darker My Love, release a very impressive second album which they have cunningly titled ‘2’, see what they did there. Despite the terrible title, this album is full of psych rock pleasure from the opening riffs of the first track ‘Northern Soul’ to the very last moments of the haunting finale ‘Immediate Undertaking’.
The opening track often holds the key to whether an album of a previously unknown band to the listener can draw you in, and with ‘Northern Soul’ you are immediately hooked, with its pulsating riff which slowly builds and explodes three minutes into the four minute track. ‘Blue Day’ follows in the same vein but slightly more jazzed up and with more distant vocals from Tim Pressley.
There is a slight cringe moment on the opening of ‘Two Ways Out’ which opens in the same style of Supergrass' ‘Alright’, in so much as every time this track got played I could not help singing “We are young, we run green, keep our teeth, nice and clean….” Thankfully it does veer away from that tune for a while before heading back to it, with the lyrics talking about “something looks familiar” maybe they were referring to the tune.
‘Pale Sun’, ‘White Comparisons’ ‘Even In Your Lightest Day’, ‘All the Hurry and Wait’ and ‘Add One To The Other One’ see the style of music toned down and the move towards a more psychedelic feel, especially on the last of those, where it can only really be described as far out. ‘Waves’ and ‘Talking Words’, which are tucked away towards the rear of the album, see the tracks move back to the same vigour of the openers and not before time, only to finish off with the previously mentioned and haunting ‘Immediate Undertaking’.
There is clearly no faulting the talents of the entire band, music is perfect for the songs and the vocals change for each style. Darker My Love recently supported A Place To Bury Strangers on their UK tour and are currently doing the same on the North American leg of the tour and it is very easy to see fans of the Brooklyn trio taking to these guys too.