Scott Irvine
04/24/07, 09:06 PM
Darkroom - A Curious Excavation
Released March 27th, 2007
Chasing Lions
It’s an abrupt awakening on a warm Sunday morning. It’s a warm bed on a cold Monday evening. It’s an invigorating intensity and welcoming current of weightlessness. Time and space seem effortlessly bent in favor of a more hesitant pendulum under which possibilities for each day’s discoveries are expanded. Rhythm becomes the inaugural clarity such an excavation unfolds. It’s A Curious Excavation, indeed. Staggered by such a beauty, these possibilities were fostered by a modern overseer of sorts. Darkroom, the overseer, bridged the gap, dug the hole, opened the curtains – happened upon a lucidity that one can only stumble upon naturally in the fleeting seconds of wild imagination upon waking up, or those few seconds where consciousness and the body’s will for sleep hang in the balance.
“Masquerade and drop your eyes/Drop your eyes…”
A searing feedback overlays the slow acoustic strum beginning “Blanketed Fortress”, and as if vocalist Corey Drake has a clairvoyance unheard of by this reviewer, he perfectly mellows the song out until the dynamic shift the rest of the band implements welcomes back the static into a more composed state of return. Such radiant additions to an album that already relinquishes any worldly connection musically, absent of the incessant and expected need for experimentation however, provide an almost rustic longing as a backdrop to the otherwise starry ambition held by the main cast of instruments. Certainly Drake’s reflective shuffles and imagery-focused lyrical base confound the previously mentioned “rustic”, studio-born additions, but they seem to blend seamlessly without complaint. The sparkles and sporadics will nevertheless remain untouched by the primary unit of instrumentation. From pianos that seem more ‘melting’ than ‘matter-of-fact’ (“A Curious Excavation”) to fluid drum love taps (“Stagecraft”) to solemn, yet uplifting horns (“Six Eight Four Four”), Darkroom have mastered the application of an impressive array of styles, instruments, and objectives not heard since Neutral Milk Hotel.
“…Paint your face and wonder why/Wonder why…”
Dust will never reside on these songs. There is too much life, too much love to not warrant Darkroom’s complete attention to every little detail. If I was still in middle school, I’d throw out the word “epic” to properly describe the climax each song seems to reach somewhere in the process, but guitar peaks and cohesion between the rest seem beyond “epic” at some point. This is the soundtrack for drives to family reunions; one hand delving into succinct recollections and memoirs, one still grasping reality and the scenery on the way to the destination. Though get-togethers involving restless relatives is rarely thrilling, A Curious Excavation is staunch to illuminate a new aspect to acquaintances and memories; a beautiful one.
“…Nobody knows you.”
Spacious and yet not light on lyrical or music girth, Darkroom twirl the traditional indie benevolence into a non-traditional scrapbook kind of progression. Delicate and fully capable of keeping their ambitious instrumentation in particular moods particularly pertaining to remembrance, A Curious Excavation is just that; a dedicated dig to the core of our ability to cope with those we lost and those we have yet to lose. It’s a possibility, a chance at an unattainable perfection; a perfection that’s yet to leave my mind since I first discovered it.
Released March 27th, 2007
Chasing Lions
It’s an abrupt awakening on a warm Sunday morning. It’s a warm bed on a cold Monday evening. It’s an invigorating intensity and welcoming current of weightlessness. Time and space seem effortlessly bent in favor of a more hesitant pendulum under which possibilities for each day’s discoveries are expanded. Rhythm becomes the inaugural clarity such an excavation unfolds. It’s A Curious Excavation, indeed. Staggered by such a beauty, these possibilities were fostered by a modern overseer of sorts. Darkroom, the overseer, bridged the gap, dug the hole, opened the curtains – happened upon a lucidity that one can only stumble upon naturally in the fleeting seconds of wild imagination upon waking up, or those few seconds where consciousness and the body’s will for sleep hang in the balance.
“Masquerade and drop your eyes/Drop your eyes…”
A searing feedback overlays the slow acoustic strum beginning “Blanketed Fortress”, and as if vocalist Corey Drake has a clairvoyance unheard of by this reviewer, he perfectly mellows the song out until the dynamic shift the rest of the band implements welcomes back the static into a more composed state of return. Such radiant additions to an album that already relinquishes any worldly connection musically, absent of the incessant and expected need for experimentation however, provide an almost rustic longing as a backdrop to the otherwise starry ambition held by the main cast of instruments. Certainly Drake’s reflective shuffles and imagery-focused lyrical base confound the previously mentioned “rustic”, studio-born additions, but they seem to blend seamlessly without complaint. The sparkles and sporadics will nevertheless remain untouched by the primary unit of instrumentation. From pianos that seem more ‘melting’ than ‘matter-of-fact’ (“A Curious Excavation”) to fluid drum love taps (“Stagecraft”) to solemn, yet uplifting horns (“Six Eight Four Four”), Darkroom have mastered the application of an impressive array of styles, instruments, and objectives not heard since Neutral Milk Hotel.
“…Paint your face and wonder why/Wonder why…”
Dust will never reside on these songs. There is too much life, too much love to not warrant Darkroom’s complete attention to every little detail. If I was still in middle school, I’d throw out the word “epic” to properly describe the climax each song seems to reach somewhere in the process, but guitar peaks and cohesion between the rest seem beyond “epic” at some point. This is the soundtrack for drives to family reunions; one hand delving into succinct recollections and memoirs, one still grasping reality and the scenery on the way to the destination. Though get-togethers involving restless relatives is rarely thrilling, A Curious Excavation is staunch to illuminate a new aspect to acquaintances and memories; a beautiful one.
“…Nobody knows you.”
Spacious and yet not light on lyrical or music girth, Darkroom twirl the traditional indie benevolence into a non-traditional scrapbook kind of progression. Delicate and fully capable of keeping their ambitious instrumentation in particular moods particularly pertaining to remembrance, A Curious Excavation is just that; a dedicated dig to the core of our ability to cope with those we lost and those we have yet to lose. It’s a possibility, a chance at an unattainable perfection; a perfection that’s yet to leave my mind since I first discovered it.