DARK DARK DARK – Wild Go (Part 2)

Here’s Part 2 of the Dark Dark Dark conversation where Julia just decides to get it all over with in one fell swoop. Pull out the popcorn, folks!

FROM: Julia Barry
TO: Chris Mollica

Chris, I’m with you in the smoke. I *should* like “Wild Go” if I tick the intellectual checklist, but I couldn’t dive all in at an emotional level.

Invie’s voice is beautiful, strong, raw, guttural, honest. Check. Orchestrations are eclectic, explore combinations of timbres and sonorities beyond usual instrument configurations (jazz trio, chamber quartet, rock band, etc.). Check. Lyrics are heartfelt, poetic, yet concise. Check. Chord progressions and harmonies weave a variety of styles together, playing off of different scales and cultural associations. Check.

But for me, that might be where the smoke is. While I dig that Dark Dark Dark’s songs cover a melange of styles, instruments, and voices, the virgin listening experience was like being tossed on a windy sea. For example, “In Your Dreams,” moves through tribal chorus to classical minor tension to ska to Disney “aah” choir. (And what on earth is wrong with my brain that I keep harking back to “The Lion King” soundtrack?!). In “Daydreaming,” creepy-crawly, Halloweeny-goth chromatics sweeten into blues playfulness, hang out in your regular pop or rock arena, and end with a time-honored classical resolution. “Heavy Heart” is Belle & Sebastian meets metal guitars meets Flamenco. You get the idea. Over these twists and turns, Invie’s lyrics seem to float unrelated, like an oil coating on water; her phrasing often ends with a clipped rhythm that, while mirroring the quirky spaces made by herky-jerky accordion and the chamber rock amalgam, holds me at arm’s length like an angry teen saying, “You don’t understand me.”

And, despite these complexities, Dark Dark Dark didn’t thrill me with surprise either. Their sound overlaps with bands already on my playlist (think Beirut or Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) and utilizes a lot of structural, chordal, and lyrical repetition that didn’t capture my emotional attention. Oh, repetition. What a fine line. Listeners want repetition in order to understand and access what musicians express, but also, we need surprises, contrasts, standalone moments of truth, beauty, weirdness, or deep satisfaction for the rest to bear repeating. (How many times can we jump on this bed until it breaks?) In “Wild Go,” we’re not shouting along to a one-line chorus with windows down on the way to the beach, nor are we invited to sit on Dark Dark Dark’s couch and be part of their mystical world. Even if this album is a secret cabin in a moody, medieval wood, I still need the cabin door to be open–just a crack!–for the songs to move me.

Wait, I do want to back up and recognize the incredibly stellar musicianship of the band (oh, that cello is gorgeous!), the folky gumption of Todd Chandler’s singing, and especially Invie’s vocals. Mashing together as many tones and styles as the songs themselves, Invie’s voice instantly zings to the center of my brain. (I know I’ll get over the instant comparisons to other singers my brain makes on the first couple listens.) Her vocal quality is intense yet her singing style is not flowery or covered up, which I really admire. I wonder if her vocal talent is so multi-faceted that, combined with Dark Dark Dark’s eclectic arrangements and roller coaster of styles, we can’t fully appreciate her expression? I wonder if combined with Invie’s Renaissance capabilities, we can’t absorb the whole of Dark Dark Dark?

I like that Wild Go isn’t all sewn up and polished to an antiseptic sheen like a ton of studio albums we hear these days. The patchwork feel appeals to me. Maybe I just need some more time and listens. The band members and singers perform with such feeling, and the words seem to express something important about loneliness, love, loss, wishes. Oftentimes, albums that turn out to be my favorites are those that I couldn’t understand or disliked on first or second (or even fifth) listen. I wonder if this is one of those?

“Tell me what you celebrate,”

Julia

Download Dark Dark Dark – Daydreaming (MP3)