You Crazy Dreamers

Silver Darling finds me, I try to resist, but cannot…fan created.

Posted: 19 Apr 2009 09:16 AM PDT

Silver Darling are new to me. I discovered them while covering Garrett Pierce for my day job at Slowcoustic and while looking over the label page for Crossbill Records, I found another gem in Silver Darling. There is also a Matt Bauer EP that is incredible with Crossbill, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. From what I can tell this is a band that is just starting out releasing albums (2008, but Silver Darling has been in the works since 2006), gaining members and looking forward to continued growth, touring and albums.

While as I say just starting out, they still have two official releases to date and have grown from a trio to a quintet (that’s five) in the last few months. A common theme when I start to really enjoy music is a sound that is usually folk, but one that seems acoustically inclined (at times) and have something that separates if from the sea of others. Whether that is a unique voice, interesting inclusions of instruments or a sound that keeps it’s roots in folk but walks a fine line to gothic, indie Americana. Silver Darling find themselves roaming comfortably throughout these territories. Their website has the below description:

…Northern California based soul folk in action-Guthrie Americana-dark gospel musical group…

With “sounds like” from their MySpace page of:

‘77 sunburst Gibson Les Paul, ‘77 Rickenbacker Bass, ‘59 Ludwig 28″ bass drum, early ’60’s Hammond organ, ‘45 king 2b silvertone trombone, ‘82 Martin HD-28, voice (high tenor), voice (baritone)

Now you see? There is a bit of everything with SD, you get the mellow folk acoustic tracks “Leave My Body Like a Stone” or “Land West of The Mississippi” and even folk rock of “Hanging Rest” - you have Kevin Lee’s lead vocals power through while still showing the fragility of just holding on. You can actually feel and hear the incorporation of a fuller band from the first EP “Wrap Around My Heart” to the newer “Your Ghost Fits My Skin” - while the EP is more acoustic and southern gospel, the newer LP could be a group effort that brings the power of that South to the forefront (you can find this in tracks like “Roof and Seed” - swing by their website to listen for yourself). This is what always attracts me and keeps me listening - great music, dark lyrics/discussion, a possibly a bit of twang from a pedal steel…if this is something that might intrigue you, take a listen below - you will find yourself a wash in a Southern Delta sound that while still finding its final signature sound, is doing a incredible job of playing great music along the journey.
~
Silver Darling
“Clothes Removed” (mp3)
“Land West of the Mississippi” (mp3)
from “Wrap Around My Heart”
(Crossbill Records)