Check out the Darker My Love slideshow here!
Darker My Love
August 18, 2010
Fingerprints Records
A well-written song will translate regardless of its sonics. With their first album relying heavily on fuzz and their second album dipping heavily into the psychedelic, Darker My Love pulled off another metamorphosis for their third album, Alive As You Are, by peeling back the layers of reverb to reveal inherently catchy songs.
]
The tiny Fingerprints stage couldn't hold all the members of the band as Will Canzoneri was stationed sidestage with his Hohner Clavinet and Ace Tone organ. While the band was over an hour late to their in-store, they made up for it with a solid set that seemed to go by in seconds.
“Backseat” served as the perfect introduction with its jangling guitars and undercurrent of organ noises, but the vocals and harmonies come soaring over the top to ensnare the listener. The sun didn't stop shining for “Split Minute” with its uplifting chords and foot tapping beat. It's almost paradoxical to think a band called Darker My Love could create such bright songs.
Rob Barbato plucked away at his bass for the gallop of “18th Street Shuffle” while Tim Presley and Jared Everett meshed together some scratchy guitars. One of many weapons in Darker My Love's arsenal is the alternation between Presley and Barbato on vocals which they use to their advantage with stacked harmonies.
Shifting their overall sound seems to have spurred their creativity as they unveiled a new tune supposedly written a few weeks ago tentatively titled “Rain Down South” that fell into a '60s power pop category. “Cry On Me Woman” was a woozy drive at dusk that also effectively closes out their album. Darker My Love will more probably collect a few more fans as they are slotted to open for Band of Horses in September.
Personal Bias: One of the loudest shows I saw at the Detroit Bar was Asobi Sesku and Darker My Love in 2006.
Crowd: Long Beach locals and most of the Crystal Antlers.
Random Notebook Dump: Darker My Love has a lot of love for Long Beach as they have played the Prospector back in 2009.
