Darkness Sure Becomes This City

Joy Kills Sorrow (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 23, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Signature Sounds
• ASIN: B0031P6WZS
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,655 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Album of 2010, January 25, 2011

By 

G. Rhabyt "rhabbit" (California Coast) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darkness Sure Becomes This City (Audio CD)

I never expected it to be this one. I bought the disc on a whim and it keeps ending up in the player. The songs are fun and easy as background, but solidly built and I seem never to get tired of them. Emma Beaton's voice sounds effortlessly beautiful, but carries a lot of subtle emotion. The banjo, guitar, and mandolin are all excellent: skillfully played but not egotistically in your face. Looking at the liner notes, Bridget Kearney, the bassist, seems to have written my favorite songs: "Books", "All the Buildings", "Get Up and Go", "Kill My Sorrow".

Their style is a bluegrass/indie acoustic mix. Someone used the word pop to describe them, but that's a Beatles (Rubber Soul or Revolver) or REM kind of pop, not a Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift thing. Its catchy in a way that you are still happy to listen to five years later. Oddly, it reminds me most (at least in the way I am drawn to it) of the brilliant but off-mainstream pop songs from the Talking Heads (like "Air" or "And She Was") or the Magnetic Fields ("You Must be Out of Your Mind" or "100,000 Fireflies").

It's a surprisingly great album. But hard to describe and difficult to persuade your friends to buy. I ended up getting several copies and giving them to friends, all of whom have really liked it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars highly recommended, March 7, 2010

By 

A. M. Morse (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darkness Sure Becomes This City (MP3 Download)

fan of folk? bluegrass? old school country? you'll find something to get into on this album. what i love most about the music of this band is that they really know when to cut loose and when to exercise restraint, and it's evident in the prowess of every musician in this band--each instrumentalist excels both in the background and when it's their moment to take the lead. same goes for the vocals, which are occasionally delivered almost in slow motion behind frenetic banjo and mandolin lines. the band will probably grow tired of being compared to nickel creek--and they are certainly more eclectic in their instrumentation, style, and influences, but it'll be hard for them to avoid this comparison. witness "you will change me," which sounds like it could have been pulled right off nickel creek's first album. it's a great tune, though, and it fits well here. that said, the best song's here are virtually all of the original compositions and often diverge quite a bit out of that pigeonhole. a small criticism: i'd have preferred to hear more original songs in place of a couple songs here that the band did not write. highlights: "books," "get up and go," "all the buildings."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this now!, June 5, 2010

By 

K. Heininge (Oregon) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darkness Sure Becomes This City (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful collection of pure vocals and terrific instrumentals, with a strong folk influence.