Customer Reviews

2 [Vinyl]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best psychedelic albums I've heard since the sixties (yeah, I was around then and was listening to music too). I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this - some bands try to be a knockoff, but this is the real deal - I absolutely love the way "White Composition" floats - like a lazy sunny afternoon laying on a bank by a stream - this album is so evocative, it should be considered an instant classic (if there are any anymore). I have their earlier self-titled CD and this completely blows that out of the water. The way the tracks "All the Hurry & Wait" and "Waves" lead one into the other is like an incredible ride - the break coming out of All the Hurry & Wait is like "Okay, here we go ....let it ride baby" and it's a real pleasure. I've seen where some others compare this to Magical Mystery Tour - maybe - It has moments that remind me of the Moody Blues at times (White Composition especially), but the rest, well .. I love the Beatles too, but this isn't a knockoff like other bands - there may be some passages that are similar to some of the more psychedelic moments on Sgt Peppers or Magical Mystery Tour, but the Beatles - nope - it's Darker My Love and they kick it -- check this out if you're into acid psychedelic rock - this is one of the best ever.

"If something looks familiar, something is wrong," Darker My Love inform us atop a dingy wash of fuzzbox slag paired to shimmery clean, 'shroomed-out arpeggios. Those familiar with psychedelia will immediately bond with their new record 2, which tightropes the line between sunny, harmonized Beatles pop ("White Composition") and the ever-present wall-of-sound distortion quilt so loved by shoegazers ("Two Ways Out," "Pale Sun"), swooning and occasionally falling completely into one or the other.

Enamoured less of the inscrutable haze of My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive, Darker My Love's hunger for noisy walls of sound strays closer to the Swervedriver school of shoegaze. Tracks like the pumping, organ-spattered, "American Woman"-ish "Blue Day" and its distorted swirl start things nice and loud, paving the road for spacier jams like the Pink Floyd meets The Doors echoes of "Add One To The Other One."

The band seem to be set on recording a '60s psych-rock primer for today's indie kids: later, "Waves" takes it to the other side with conjured images of flower children monkey-dancing on the set of a Speed Racer cartoon, while the standout scuzzy anthem "Talking Words" soars on booming, throaty fuzzchords, Creamy "woman tone" leads and resplendent waterfalls of organ.

A lustful attitude toward their fuzz pedals which swings between love and perversion, cloudy-behind-the-eyes lyrics and the very inclusion of a (well-utilized, for once!) organ all point to one thing: this is some peachy keen retro hippie rock. Extra rad points for the blooming harmonies, and for featuring vocals that actually take discernable form, shape and direction.

RIYL Secret Machines, The Misteriosos, drugs.

Am I saying the New Darker My Love release "2" is Beatlesque? Um, hello, YES! But that is a very GOOD thing. I am of an age where, "are you a Beatles or a Stones fan?" meant something. Both bands were still releasing some of the best pop/rock music ever written.

Granted I was born in 1960 making me a young fan, but a fan none the less! And I was firmly in the Beatles camp. There was then, and still today, nothing like a Lennon/McCartney harmony - guitar hook - melody - you name it!

Sure there have been a lot of bands attempting to emulate the Fab Four. Many came very close. But for me the closest to date are the guys of Darker My Love. The writing team of Tim Presley and Rob Barbato anchor the band. I feel strongly the comparison between Lennon/McCartney and Presley/Barbato is valid.

My proof? Look no further than the Barbato penned "Two Ways Out" and Presley's "Talking Words." Two songs that are chock full of harmony - guitar hooks - melody. These are just two of eleven wonderful new tunes that make up this new record! While still fairly labeled as a neo-psychedelic band, there is much more here on "2."

If you're a fan of the wonderful, and growing, cache of new neo-psychedelic bands you really need this record. If you're a fan of the Fabs, once again you need this record. If you're a Stones fan, you too need this record.

Listening to the record is like stepping off of Jupiter and back on to the Magical Mystery Bus, chewing a few shroom's, motoring back to Earth and alighting in LA!

Heard them on AOL Radio - sprang for the album - was very happy with the purchase.

Psychedelic in texture, shoegazing in attitude, and accessible in scope, this L.A. indie band delivers a solid album. It reminded me strongly of The Verve, but without Richard Ashcroft's tortured artist syndrome. The vocals tend to support the song, rather than overwhelm the melody or separate themselves from the ensemble. Four stars only since I think they'll continue to progress and deepen into this delightful direction of sophisticated, swaggering and silky sonic swirls of seduction.

No John Leckie epic production, as this is on a small label and probably recorded on a tight budget, yet it sounds hefty when it should and delicate when it would. Harmonies, as on "Two Ways Out" & "Pale Sun," soften the punch of the punkish segue that later hammers home "All the Hurry and Wait" rising into "Waves." Midway through the album, "White Composition," although not to my tastes, allows the momentum of the thunderous opening to ease into an Arthur Lee & Love evocation for a few feathery minutes before the album again begins to crest and roar into guitars, bass, drums, and keyboard embellishment.

The Beatles, risky as it may be, around the White Album may also echo. My son's good ears also picked up the intelligent, studious yet not imitative craft of another band of sonic re-creators, The Soundtrack of Our Lives. Like TSOOL, Darker My Love overcome a perhaps awkward name with a love of a period when an ambitious pop song could rule the airwaves at least for a few months. DML's intricate, yet streamlined rather than fussy, arrangements of their songs allow them to build up and amble down according to mood. Their attention to a polished production and an effort where all the band integrates into a larger whole speaks well for inheritors of a classic rock sound that does not alienate a pop-oriented listener while appealing to an adventurous lover of obscurer influences.

DML filters the neo-psychedelic era too. As mentioned with The Verve, the late 80s-early 90s also are captured in a more dominant, post-punk schooled delivery. The probably harrowing and enjoyable (in equal amounts?) stint of part of the band when they were suddenly recruited from opening act to backing musicians for yet-another line-up of The Fall during their last American tour does not appear to have resulted in any Mark E. Smith homage, however. The density, on the other hand, of a scrappy, smart garage band who loves Can may be one area of overlap between L.A.'s club favorites and Manchester's indie stalwarts. (You can hear the DML's contribution to the Fall Sound on their album "Reformation Post-TLC.")

DML's not a shoegazing revival group, but they share that genre's devotion to a larger sound that manages to be big without being heavy. Although not as austere of droning as Black Mountain's debut or "Into the Future" or two records by The Black Angels (all four also reviewed by me), Darker My Love may represent yet another promising contender for this generation's psychedelic vanguard. Enter their swirling, layered construction and you will welcome their direct desire to stack up sounds that you can sink into.

You can hear the Beatles, the Beach Boys, early Pink Floyd, Quicksilver Messenger Service and a host of other 60s bands in this release. Some incredibly good songs (even great ones) that will never see the light of day on anything but the best radio stations in large markets. Too bad! Anyway, buy this and you'll hear one of the best new groups around and you won't be disappointed.

Anyone who does not have satellie radio is missing out on a lot of good cutting edge music. I might be an old rock 'n roll fan, but I enjoy a number of XM stations between 40 and 54, and they're always on the lookout for a new American band to promote (they seem to have cornered the market on Canadian acts outside the top 40). Darker My Love seems to be the latest. I heard one song on the radio and ended up downloading the entire CD. The band has good harmonies, a solid variety of influences and shows great promise for the future. If they can put out a couple more CD of similar quality, then maybe we can talk about similarities with the Beatles. For now, just enjoy a good, fun band finding their own way.

Just a brief review - others have described this album very well already, but I just want to say there's so much music out there these days that pretty much goes in one ear and out the other so it's very refreshing to hear a band that brings back a 60's sensibility that somehow sounds quite contemporary and up-to-date but actually puts the listener in a better frame of mind than they were before they heard this music. It's hard to describe really but a nice example of this band's talents can be heard with the song, "All The Hurry and Wait". This music takes me back to a simpler time when records brought a smile to your face and you'd want to instantly play it again after the end of the last track. As far as comparisons, I can hear a little bit of Kula Shaker combined with fuzz guitars, Beatlesque harmonies. I've just discovered this band this year so I'm looking forward to checking out the newer release soon, but I'm lovin' this one right now.

Los Angeles Indie-psych rock quintet Darker My Love hate the word "genre". Labels like stoner-rock, shoegaze and psychedelia have been routinely affixed to the groups fuzzy, reverb-drenched rock 'n' roll riffs and hypnotic, sunburnt melodies since their 2006 debut LP release. With all of these errorless tags dangling from the group's least favorite word pertaining to their past sound, they have put together a new album that draws on the heavy guitars and rich textures that made their debut a standout. With the graduated sense of melody and complex songwriting prevailing over 2, Darker My Love seduce listeners into their somber yet uplifting, catchy yet transcendental, hazy brand of original music. Track one, "Northern Soul" sets the pace of 2 with a repetitive, descending wall of guitar fuzz warning that the trip ahead may be to a dark place. "Blue Day", one of the album's bests immediately punches through the epic intro jam. More churning fuzz, overdriven bass and the introduction of groups newest member Will Canzoneri on the clavinet carry the energetic, gloomy groove to a melancholic pre-chourus, " all the time you lost will eat you more and more, and all the time you wanted doesn't want you anymore". The chorus opens up and sends you sailing with a sunny, simple layered vocal followed by a turnaround that seals the deal and invokes the playful spirit of a pre-1972 Syd Barret, present throughout the rest of the record. Rob Barbato, bassist and one of the groups two lead vocalists explains the inspiration behind the next track, the single "Two Ways Out": "I was in the hospital in LA with a 105° fever. I felt really alone. The band started driving to New York to play a show. Meanwhile, my cell phone was dead and I had a lot of time to think. It was a scary experience. You realize though, bad stuff does happen to you and a positive mental outlook can get you out of any situation. Even at your lowest moment." From there, the trance has taken hold and there is no turning back. 2 soars to dreamy peaks of sheer psychedelic splendor over the next 33 odd sum minutes, weaving soothing distant hooks throughout most tracks while leaving a couple naked, to speak for themselves. - Tyler Starkey

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Excellent album from a band that sounds like a cross between The Monkees during their most far-flung psych period filtered through Hawkwind styled intergalactic spazzisms. The result is the most beautifully insane din you've heard in years. Killer tracks for your intergalctic psych review are "Northern Soul", "Talking Words" (...and meaning less), "Waves" and the jazzy "White Compasition". Definitely the band to watch.