Darker My Love return with their new album after two years, Alive As You Are.  Since their release of their last album 2, drummer Andy Granelli (who helped create the band with singer Tim Presley) left Darker My Love and was replaced with Dan Allaire from The Brian Jonestown Massacre.  Even with this change in line-up, the music still has a psychedelic feel, and this album, like their others, is best enjoyed during the summer.  However, on this album, Darker My Love seem to change their signature sound from having heavier rock undertones to being a bit more folk based.

Alive As You Are starts out with the song “Backseat”, setting an overall road trip, 60’s nostalgic type tone to the album.   Although it is fitting that Darker My Love finally recorded an album in Northern California, it feels like they were a bit too heavily influenced by their surroundings.  Overall, Darker My Love seem to delve a bit far in the past at times instead of forging ahead into new territory.

There are a few strong tracks that carry the album, such as “18th Street”, “Trail the Line”, and “Lovely Game”.  These songs create a soundscape where you feel as though you’re being pulled along with them for the ride.  Overall, this is an interesting departure from their work in the past, but hopefully, Darker My Love won’t continue to drift further from the sound for which they are known.

By Joshua Glazer     [Permalink]