Customer Reviews

Darkness Sure Becomes This City

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

 

 

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.

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."

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

There are a handful of bands working the national bluegrass circus that are creating the next generation of sound. Unfettered by the traditional thumping 1/5 bass line, conventional banjo rhythms and tired old grooves, these bands are creating freshness in a genre which has bordered on rote for generations.

Joy Kills Sorrow, and specifically this CD, tops the heap of gifted young artists who are making unique, catchy listenable and altogether creative newgrass. These Berklee school refugees are avoiding the triteness of jam band fever (a la Yonder Mountain, Emmitt Nershi etc, all of which are good but not nearly as purely artistic as these folks) and making great sounds with a very high level of technical and artistic finesse.

If you like polished, original, sing em throughout your days music, this is a must have album.

I love this talented group of musicians. The poetry is improving but the musicianship is superb. the lead singer also plays cello but not live alas