\u201cWeezer and Sublime have a baby who likes to whistle.\u201d\u00a0 No really, with an assist from the accompanying one-sheet, that\u2019s exactly what came to mind before the first kaleidoscopic track of this disc (the biting \u201cStalemate\u201d) had finished.<\/p>\n
Darkness Dear Boy are an energetic power trio with a loose, organic indie-rock vibe and a riff-heavy sound, a Tempe, Arizona group that shares a jones for fat-chorded hooks-and-harmonies rock with local compatriots Jimmy Eat World and the Gin Blossoms.<\/p>\n
Of course,\u00a0 neither of those handy touchstone bands ever produced a reggae-fied, shambolific tune on the order of \u201cGet Off Me,\u201d\u2019 where the Sublime influence takes over and lead voice\/guitarist Ted Organ begins speed-singing until he\u2019s almost rapping.\u00a0 Whereupon they settle down for a bit until bassist Will Kingsbury and drummer Aaron Ranschaert hit the jet boosters for the final furious minute.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t say I loved everything here\u2013some of these tunes (\u201cKnob\u201d comes to mind) careen right off the melody line into a rich chaotic stew that\u2019s amusing once, but doesn\u2019t hold up so well with repeat listens.\u00a0 And the band\u2019s rather purposeful forays into a more mainstream alt-rock sound (\u201cToday,\u201d \u201cFireflies,\u201d \u201cTerminal\u201d) are this album\u2019s weakest moments.<\/p>\n
No, this is a group that feels like they are at their best when letting their inner id run loose, as they do on the bouncy, joyful \u201cThere\u201d and the bipolar snarkfest \u201cDog In The Manger\u201d (opening line: \u201cYou quit talking to me, but I liked it \/ You get so angry that your eyes pop out of their sockets\u201d).\u00a0 Organ, Kingsbury and Ranschaert (not a law firm) clearly have the chops and wit to entertain with a broad brush rather than a narrow one.<\/p>\n
Finally, there\u2019s another influence here that the boys may or may not acknowledge.\u00a0 The melodic reggae-punk-pop sound they mostly stick with here\u2014much like Sublime\u2019s entire catalog\u2014owes no little debt to the Police\u2019s 1978 debut Outlandos D\u2019Amour<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Brand New Carrot On A String<\/i> is an impressive debut full of tart lyrics (\u201cPain can feel soothing when it\u2019s all that you\u2019re used to\u201d) and sharp riffs, wrapped up in a loose, friendly DIY vibe.\u00a0 They might not change the world just yet, but Darkness Dear Boy can definitely put a smile on your face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8637],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42140","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-darkness-dear-boy","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42140"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42140"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}