Yo sé que se ve como algo bien vago de mi parte, pero a mí me gusta leer lo que el autor tiene que decir de su propia obra, por eso mi insistencia con los song by song reviews. Si se trata de un álbum excepcional dentro de la discografía del artista, para los nerds como yo es importante saber un poco más de cada composición. Además, transcribir una entrevista formal toma mucho tiempo y cuando es por e-mail, es mejor así porque no te contestan “si” o “no”.

Darker My Love es un quinteto de California que oficialmente comenzó su carrea en 2004. Un poco antes de comenzar oficialmente, Tim Presley (voz y guitarra) y Andy Granelli (ex baterista) empezaron este proyecto con miras a hacer algo diferente a la banda de hard core punk que tuvieron hasta 2002, The Nerve Agents. Luego Andy se fue de gira con The Distillers y se atrazó un poco la salida de la banda.  El baterista deja sus otras obligaciones y se dedica 100 por ciento a Darker My Love y en 2006 el grupo lanza su disco homónimo. La alineación de la banda era: Tim, Andy, Rob Barbato (bajo y voz) y Jared Everett (guitarra).  El álbum está compuesto por piezas psicodélicas y de vez en cuando pesadas con un sonido que se revuelca con el rock n’ roll de los 6o’s y 70’s, shoegaze, reverb y efectos. En 2008 lanzaron su segundo disco titulado 2. Will Canzoneri (tecladista)  es añadido como parte oficial del grupo en la producción. En esta ocasión la banda apunta a un sonido más melodioso, pero sin abandonar los efectos de sonido y el reverb. Con Alive As You Are (2010), Darker My Love continúa enfocándose en la melodía y composición en lugar de coleccionar pedales de efectos y grabar temas que parezcan más improvisaciones que nada.  La banda sustituye el ataque sónico de sonidos manipulados por armonías, melodías pegajosas, decoraciones elegantes y en fin, un estilo más sencillo. Entre los cambios también está Dan Allaire (Brian Jonestown Massacre), que sustituye a Andy en la batería.

Aunque muchos van brincar y decir que Alive As You Are se parece The Beatles y Grateful Dead, también se puede palpar con facilidad la influencia o cosas parecidas a Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young, The Kinks, The Velvet Underground, The Byrds y mucho pop de la década de los años 60 y 70.

En mi opinión, el álbum tiene una vibra más positiva y colorida que los dos discos anteriores. Es obvio que añade más variedad al repertorio de Darker My Love y los lleva al nivel que más gente debería llegar: cantar sin tanto reverb y tocar sin tanto sonido manipulado.

A continuación está el Song By Song review de Alive As You Are por Rob Barbato de Darker My Love.

1. Backseat

Rob Barbato: Tim wrote this one after we got back from a month long tour in europe….needless to say it got pretty cold in the back of the van.

2. Split Minute

RB:  When we first started playing this I thought it sounded like R.E.M.. Now I think it sounds like us.

3. 18th Street Shuffle

RB: This is the oldest song out of the bunch and is basically about Tim’s fantasy of becoming part of the Los Angeles Latino gang scene .

4. New America

RB:Another one we wrote last summer. It’s kind of about burning it all down and starting over.

5. Rain Party

RB: Maria Taylor from Azure Ray sang on this one. She loves wine. After she did her vocals and we finished for the day we had a big party back at the house where we were staying at. I didn’t feel so hot the next day.

6. Maple Day Getaway

RB: This originally had a different feel but after listening to many GD (Grateful Dead) bootlegs it came together in it’s current state. Pretty smoking live.

7. Trail the Line

RB: This one actually needed some work and we re-cut a bunch of it at Sound Factory studio in L.A. Warren Zevon recorded “Excitable Boy” there so I was stoked.

8. June Bloom

RB: This has a tape edit where at the end of the song we changed drums and tones and all that jazz. Listen for it and behold the beauty of analog recording.

9. Dear Author

RB:This song poses the question, “What if Mark David Chapman killed J.D. Salinger instead of John Lennon?”

10. A Lovely Game

RB:Another oldie, came together at the last minute. It’s about the self doubt you get from choosing to be in a band and trying to survive in the modern world.

11. Cry on Me Woman

RB: First song we cut on the record.This one has a tape edit too. I hope you can’t hear it. The backing vocals were also done the day maria was there and I was about 8 beers deep at that point. I think I sound pretty good though.

Bonus questions:
Laser Eater: Andy’s  drumming was a vital part of the sound of the first two albums. What new colors is Dan Allaire adding to the band? Are you afraid
Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre) might want to hurt you for stealing his drummer?

RB: Dan rules at drums and at being a rad dude. He understands song writing. He knows when to hold back and when to let loose. Anton’s really nice. I don’t know him to well but when we were in Berlin last year he made us cookies. They were really good too! So hopefully that was a peace offering and he won’t snap.

LE: If you were on a boat by yourself and all of a sudden Sylvester Stallone came down from the sky like an angel, which of his movie characters
would you like him to be:

Rocky
Rambo

His character in Demolition Man

Other

What would you do with him?

RB: Rocky is his most lovable character. I guess we would talk about turtles and drink raw eggs.

LE:  If you were to become a huge superstar, who would you choose to be your bodyguard, Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) of Beverly Hills Cop or Dennis
Rodman?

RB: Dennis Rodman for sure. I saw him riding on his motorcycle in LA not to long ago and he looked pretty bad ass. Since he went through rehab I’m guessing he might have his act together. If he doesn’t work out there is always Bill Laimbeer.

Para el que quiera leer  de como se grabó Alive As You Are, puden leer lo que Tim escribió en su blog AQUÍ.

Myspace.

Dangerbird Records.