Darling Downs – It’s Dark Down Under
In the United States we are unfortunate to have so little contact with music from other countries. To listen to a band from Britain is enough for most people, and the only contact with Australian music comes from pop groups like Silverchair, pop/country acts like Keith Urban, and pop/folk groups like The Waifs. “Goth Country” is a genre pioneered (”pioneered” is a term I used lightly when talking about country) by groups out of the western US; bands like 16 Horsepower and The Handsome Family (also on Carrot Top Records), from Colorado and New Mexico, respectively, have shaped how we listen to new country music, and returned the genre to it’s former dust and ashes glory. Yes, murder ballads and jilted lovers are what country music is all about, and these Aussies have shown that they’ve got the stuff.
Ron Peno, the Darling Downs’ frontman and songwriter also sounds amazingly like one of my other favorite country/folk singers – Robert Fisher from the Willard Grant Conspiracy. Dry and forceful in his upper register and resonating in his lower register, Peno’s voice sends a chill down your spine and embraces the listener in reverberating darkness. Lovely.
Darling Downs’ sophomore release From One To Another jumps to it’s feet right away; perhaps a little more upbeat than expected from my previous descriptions. The first track is lead by a steadily picked guitar, accompanied by strictly country countrified vocal riffs, giving the listener an different expectation as to what is coming for the rest of the album. The lyrics themselves follow the theme of the album, but for a first-listen, everything comes across a little more positive than it actually is. Following the opening track A Moment of Despair, comes Gather ‘Round (Stomp It Down) – a stripped down and bright banjo driven melody with eager, almost hollered lyrics.
After the first two songs, the album really gets going (and by that, I mean “slows down”). Everytime We Say Goodbye has a slightly lazy feel, with a plunked bass line and present lazy bottleneck slide guitar. The harmonies are beautiful – yearning and distant, with a hint of regret. The albums single (Circa ‘65) is a perfect henchman to the yearning melodies of the previous track, diving deep into the dark and gritty depths, with lightly finger-picked backup. These first tracks are my favorites of the album, and they compliment each other nicely in their darker nature.
Highly recommended. Pre-order From One To Another from Carrot Top Records. Seems like I need to keep my eye on this Chicago-area label.
Darling Downs – Circa 65
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