Rockbites: darlingd offers gloomy pop on debut LP

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September 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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darlingd offers gloomy pop on debut LP
14 September 2002

Daniel Taylor, aka darlingd, channels his gloom into baritone power goth.

Dallas, Georgia singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Daniel Taylor (Path Of Allyson, Dimmerswitch, Exeter Flud, Translucent, Henry-Sam-Ocean) on 3 September self-released for the US his debut full-length as 'darlingd,' a 10-track set featuring Taylor on vocals, guitars, and bass; and Gavin Fisher (Ajax Heavies and Dimmerswitch) on guitars, samples, and loops.
    Billing himself as 'dark wave,' Taylor offers introspective, gloomy, power pop ballads whose most optimistic moments come, musically-speaking, during new track Fear Of Man, a disco-influenced rocker; and lyrically-speaking in the arty, soft-loud, prog-rock Strength Of The Flood, in which he sings “Will my mind destroy my soul?/ Now I’m in way too deep/ And I know now/ Once I was lost/ But now I am found/ Things are OK.”
    The 10-track Life And How To Live It, on Taylor’s SWSMusic label, includes reworked/remixed versions of all the songs from his 2001 Fallout EP (Fallout, Mistake, Around Again, the Stranger, Something’s Wrong) plus five new tracks: Thirty-Second-Shutdown, Fear Of Man, Watching Over You, Strength Of The Flood, and Frank001.
    Taylor recorded the tracks in Marietta and Woodstock, Georgia, and in Los Angeles, California last year, co-producing with Fisher. Guests include vocalists Angelica Taylor and Todd Harris. The album’s sound is cleaner and more open than the EP that preceded it, but in this case that’s not necessarily all good. The lo-fi aura of the Fallout EP provided a touch of mystery that, on the new album, succumbs to gloss. It’s probably a more commercially-viable sound, but not to my taste. Nonetheless, LAHTLI rocks, darkly. Three bites out of five.

Rockbites ratings  5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying.

You can pick up Life And How To Live It now through online retailer CD Baby. | darlingd | | CD from CDbaby | | Something's Wrong (RealAudio stream) | | top of page |

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