“In Your Dreams”
from the album Wild Go
2010
iTunes
Free show at Der Rathskeller in Madison this Saturday night, April 2.
To strictly call this band chamber pop would be a little misleading. Most of the songs on here sound more like Timber Timbre than, say, Belle & Sebastian or Vampire Weekend. What Dark Dark Dark have that set them apart from other groups with similar instrumentation is the distinct mood they create. While maybe not as overtly sorrowful as their EP Bright Bright Bright released earlier last year, the full length gives off a state of interesting, albeit introspective, melancholy. The effect left is like that of staring out the window on a rainy day.
“Robert” is a perfect example of the kind of delicate sadness Dark Dark Dark creates. The piano plays with slight dissonance to set the downtempo mood before simplifying itself to allow room for Nona Marie Invie ‘s reverberating vocal lines. Repeating “Tell me where you’re going” Invie conveys a deep, but controlled, sadness in her delivery. With strings and layered backing vocals the song slowly builds in intensity, giving rise to the mid-tempo “Say the Word.”
“What do I do now / When all of my dreams are gone” is this song’s hook, bridging its contrasting sections haunted by backing vocals. By rarely following pop song structure Wild Go‘s songs seem to fade into each other, flowing from moments of sadness to moments of despair, before briefly touching on an instant of optimism.
Careful arrangement here is what makes this record great, working with the delicate but powerful vocals of Invie. With “Something for Myself” her voice ebbs and flows over dynamic piano and string parts. The song’s climax comes two thirds in, with all instruments centred around Invie’s crescendo-ing vocal trails. Maybe it’s just the Eastern European vibe of their sound, but at points her voice reminds me of Regina Spektor.
The pizzicato intro of “Heavy Heart” sets up for the most orchestral track on the album, where Invie and Marshall LaCount intertwine their contrasting vocal styles. This song’s heavy reliance on strings display Dark Dark Dark’s talent for arrangement. There is no Sufjan-esque piling of sound here, rather a handful of carefully chosen elements. They use all their instruments effectively – even through accordion embellishments. The sometimes kitschy instrument contributes to Dark Dark Dark’s sound as a faint textural accompaniment, or sometimes drives harmonic structure, as in opener “In Your Dreams.”
Wild Go doesn’t overstay its welcome, something it could have easily done. While far from being a one-trick-pony, the band does essentially convey the same mood with each song – something that would be tiring if attempted by lesser musicians. But in its 40 minutes this record displays textural range while maintaining thematic continuity. This is an intimate performance from a band gaining deserved recognition.