Darling – Lights That Last Forever
Darling - Lights That Last Forever
Lights That Last Forever, the first Darling full-length release, leaves no doubt that the album’s motif is one of recovery: picking up the pieces after failed relationships and decisively moving on. Despite the commonness of its subject, each song, from the catchy guitar and vocals of the poppy opening track, “Heart Attack,” to a bass that dabbles in funk in the opening of “Move In Move On,” is developed so that they sound unique enough from each other as to avoid redundancy or monotony. While their music doesn’t push boundaries and wouldn’t be called daring, it’s definitely listenable and, arguably a more important criteria, enjoyable.
In this debut, Darling puts forth a full sound with a love for harmonic background vocals, that, despite how easily the songs engage, doesn’t ever really stray too far from the standard fare of alternative pop rock. Despite a clear emphasis on lead vocals, and even the frequent use of background vocalists’ harmonies as well as the occasional staccato-sung “bap-bap-baps,” the lyrics themselves are often unimpressive–too constricted by a rigid and simplistic rhyme scheme and at times just outright uncreative.
While some tracks seem partially reminiscent of the few more playful and faster-paced Death Cab for Cutie tracks, the composition of guitar and vocals in other songs (“Broken Wing,” for example) could be described as having a radio-friendly post-grunge sound. To a certain degree, echoes of the popular New Orleans alternative rock group Better Than Ezra can also be heard, which isn’t an unpleasant thing. While each track is short and sweet, crisp without the extra baggage of overindulgence or dragged-out endings, there’s a definite nagging feeling they weren’t challenging themselves to the extent they could have. Ultimately, this tightly constructed album is catchy and grows on you with each listen, and while it fits a little too comfortably within the genre of alternative pop rock, Lights That Last Forever is a satisfying listen.
