Darlingside (from the album Everything Is Alive

Darlingside (from the album Everything Is Alive

Darlingside (from the album Everything Is Alive available on More Doug Records/Thirty Tigers) (By Lee Zimmerman)
It’s hard not to admire Darlingside. Then again, why would anyone want to? An Indie Folk quartet that hails from Boston, environs that are famous for fostering a generally genteel sound, their music is soothing, assuring, and flush with low-lit harmonies. It’s Baroque Pop at its best, exceedingly accessible and easy on the ears.
The band members, Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltiner, and David Senft, create an immaculate sound that can be traced back to their days at university, when their instructor quoted a British writer named Sir Arthur Quiller-couch who famously suggested one should’“kill your darlings’, meaning it’s best to be unafraid when a quick edit or correction in one’s work is called for.
Indeed, the precise tones that characterize their efforts seems to prove they learned those lessons well. Every song is carefully groomed and exquisitely arranged, all in an effort to make the melodies shimmer and shine with sumptuous appeal. Naturally then, there’s no jolt to the senses, especially given the lush arrangements and a consistently seductive embrace. Hymnal-like offerings such as “Green Light”, “All the Lights In the City”, “Eliza I See”, “Darkening Hour”, “Baking Soda”, and “The Breaking of the Day” are merely a few of the melodies that are part and parcel of those delicate designs, all of which are assuring and illuminating with a decided finery and finesse.
That’s not to say there’s a predominance of melancholia. “Lose The Keys”, “The Breaking of the Day”, and “Right Friend” are profoundly positive given their unabashed exuberance. Even then, the sumptuous arrangements remain consistent, always in keeping with the pervasive beguiling beauty that consistently conveyed throughout the album overall. The spell is never broken and the music manages to keep the listener enthralled. When Darlingside declare Everything Is Alive, they’re absolutely on the mark in both song and sentiment. In these times, where the headlines are dominated by both turbulence and trouble, it’s as welcome as it is reassuring. (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
Listen and buy the music of Darlingside from AMAZON
 
For more information, please visit the Darlingside website