This EP could have been oh-so very good. After the first few minutes of opener ‘This Is My Fall’ I was left thinking I’d come across something exceedingly special. Sadly Darlison can’t quite come up with the goods thereafter, but there’s enough on offer to suggest ‘The Ascending’ could well be the start of something good. If you are a regular reader of Punktastic then you will probably have heard the name Darlison thanks to some shameless plugging by a certain forum regular. But in doing so, said person made a lot of people aware about this talented quartet. Based in Staffordshire the foursome were signed to Eyesore Records before the label disbanded, but they carried on despite the setback and have since self-released this five-track EP.
And in the main it’s very, very promising. The band cite the likes of Thursday and Jimmy Eat World as influences, yet don’t really sound like either. Infact if you listen to the first few bars of the first song they certainly have more in common with Ben Folds or Something Corporate. And to be honest, therein lies Darlison‘s strength – the piano. For whatever reason the instrument isn’t used enough on this recording, yet is arguably their greatest weapon. ‘This Is My Fall’ stands out a mile as being their best song, with the ivories tinkled to weave in and out of a frenetic guitar line and off kilter drum beat. Chris Butterworth has a distinctive vocal, switching from a casually sung style to a shout in seconds, and with a huge chorus it’s certainly something that impresses.
But from here on in things get a bit flat. ‘Saw The End’ is much better when the piano is in the loop, but has little else to separate it from the pack, while ‘Obvious’ is aptly named for going down the generic shouty-emo route. On the flipside ‘Time To Listen’ is far more up-tempo and impressive. It reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite put my finger on whom. ‘The Blue Void’ is better too, mainly because the focal point of the song is the piano, and Chris seems to be fairly adept at playing the instrument in an interesting manner. It makes for a varied sound and approach, which is really refreshing at a time when too many bands are dull and generic.
Darlison clearly have the talent to make waves, but the problem with this EP is that after setting out its stall to be different, original and inventive – and fucking good – it falls flat by becoming clichéd and bland. If the band go back to working with the piano, weaving it in and out of their songs, and working on finding their own sound and not becoming yet another flavour of the month, they could well be something very special indeed. The up-tempo tracks are their best, but the piano is the key. I feel if they can take this on board, and work at creating more songs like their opening number, Darlison have a rosy future indeed.
www.darlisonrock.com
Paul