Picture this: you’re digging around a stack of boxes in your basement and you come across this album. You pop it in for a listen and out comes a vintage sort-of grainy sound. You think you’ve discovered some long forgotten album from the 70s, but then you catch the date – 2010? That can’t be right…
Don’t worry though, you’ve got something pretty special on your hands. Darker Circles is a curious blend of psychedelic country-rock, mixed in with a classic rock feel in the vein of bands such as Pink Floyd. Another Day Again, one of the album’s standout tracks has a decidedly psychadelic edge, which is tempered by the twangy and upbeat Postcards, full of pedal steel riffs that any Deadhead would love. More in the country vein is Choosing To Fly, a moody country-stomp with rocked-out fiddle and brilliantly picked guitar parts.
The Sadies’ style makes for a hazy balance of dark and a little bit of light that is perfectly reflected in the content of the album, especially in the darker mood this album presents. It’s reminiscent of dusk, the music coming across in an atmosphere full of haze and blurred edges, most especially in songs such as Idle Tomorrows, full of shimmering guitar lines.
The album breezes by, and does so a little too quickly – like the light fading rapidly from the sky after sunset. It makes you wish that the album had a bit more substance to it, as if the idea The Sadies had wasn’t fully formed, and what came of it seems more of an EP rather than a finished album. Regardless, the album is an enjoyable and solid effort that allows you to relish in The Sadies’ unique blend of long-loved styles.
Rating – 4/5
http://www.myspace.com/thesadies
- Reviewed by Christina Alifrangis
Darker Circles is available at Road Records http://www.roadrecs.com
