Darling - D2R

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Darling - D2R

Artist:	Darling
Title:	D2R
Label:	self produced HD02
Length(s):	49 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2003
Month of review:	[11/2003]

Line up

Hal Darling - percussion, keyboards
Uri Gratton - electric, acoustic and midi guitars
Athan Gailis - woodwinds, brass and midi horns

Tracks

1)	Clown On Fire	4.48
2)	Black Rhyme	4.50 MP3
3)	Prom Vomit	2.36
4)	Where Seraphs Despair	3.32
5)	Rope Of Sand	1.50
6)	Aggressive Biological Behavior	6.27
7)	An Unsettled Score	2.51
8)	Run	6.30
9)	Dog Dreams	2.46
10)	A Breach Of Species One Through Five	0.40
11)	Mr. Smith Shows The Children How To Smoke A Cigarette	4.41
12)	Asunder	6.56

Summary

It took Hal quite a bit of time to come up with the follow up to his Darling debut from 1996. But here it is. The liner notes are fun to read and since I know little about music, I used them extensively in the following appraisal. As a word of advice: listen to the tracks well and form your own impressions before reading the booklet.

The music

Clown On Fire opens manically with dissonant circus music. One can imagine running a dark street trying to escape from a menacing collection of clowns. There are lighter pizzicatto element present too, and don't bother to keep track of the tempi and signatures overly much, you shall a hard time doing it. A dark piece with some frolic elements, but dark nonetheless. If you are looking for references, then the Cuneiform stable at its most eccentric will do, or a band like Rascal Reporters.

Gloomy Black Rhyme is up next. The dark overtones, the eerie church organ all do their best to contribute their shared of doom. Notwithstanding the off-beatness of the music, the technically challenging compositions do not forget to convey the necessary impressions on the wary and unwary listener. The link to Present is easily made, although Present is more of a rock outfit, while Hal is more likely to play around with music.

And with a title like Prom Vomit, one may expect more 'unpleasantness'. There are some epic elements well hidden between the Zappa reminiscent marimba. Where Seraphs Despair is somber in the vein of some of those 20th century Easteuropean composers. I have heard them darker (Gorecki comes to mind), but Hal is getting there.

Rope Of Sand has plenty of piano and percussion, also piano played percussively. The overall sound is more like progressive rock than on other tracks, maybe because of the presence of organ. Aggressive Biological Behavior is one of the longer tracks, and the subject matter is not a happy one. The first part has a stubborn angriness to it, an unwillingness to accept. The following passage is in the vein of a string orchestra, light and moody in comparison. Then the intricate meandering rock returns, with plenty of heavy percussion. The keys can be quite ELPish towards the end.

Although the music so far at times could be quite unsettling, only now do we arrive at An Unsettled Score. A piping tune with notes cropping up out of nowhere to disappear soon after, without leaving any traces. Then we come a more orchestral part (synthetic of course), but the structure is indeed quite classical. Nice, but not something I am particularly fond of.

Run opens repetitively with keyboards in the back, and nothing much up front. A dark mood is evident here, sometimes subdued, sometimes less so.

Dog Dreams is a complex sounding piece, with many things going on at the same time, but not necessarily together. Piano, keys and percussion are involved, and that is about it. There is a certain jazziness about it all. A Breach Of Species One Through Five is only a short tune and quite a frantic one at that.

Mr. Smith Shows The Children How To Smoke A Cigarette is a percussion and drums rich track, with again some Emersonian keyboard playing. There is even something akin a trumpet (would have been nice to have a real one there). Chamber orchestra music. Asunder is the conclusion of D2R. Plodding keyboards and organ, dissonant and discordant, we have by now come quite familiar with the work of Hal Darling. This song has those ELPish traits again, but also elements of modern soundtrack music. But of course, all departing from the beaten path. The conclusion is especially reminiscent of the darker among the Hollywood soundtracks (Elfman et al.).

Conclusion

If I ma not mistaken, Hal Darling is a person who knows exactly what he wants and needs to interference. This well-crafted self production is very much in the line of many Cuneiform releases, quite discordant and challenging in places, but he manages to stay clear of the trap of experimenting for the sake of experimentation, in the sense that the music offers something besides, a mood, a feel, an (dis)orientation. On the other hand, Hal does have a more intellectual approach than most. The melodic side of the music is not paramount, but I have to say that notwithstanding the eccentricity of the music, there is enough melody to go round (for me at least). If you are into the accessible side of progressive (like symphonic rock), then this is not for you. If you are into Rascal Reporters or Cuneiform bands like Forever Einstein, 5UU's or Thinking Plague, take a listen and you might be surprised.