Darkstar - North

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Press release
Soundclips

4...according to our Brian on Thu 14 Oct, 2010.

Righto. This expanded line-up of Darkstar are causing real ripples of excitement on the electronic scene as of now. From deep dubstep fused with digital soul to proto wonky, their journey as a duo has been a slow burning, inspired one so far. Now they've added a vocalist & made a radical stylistic shift into grander, poppier pastures. There's hardly a whiff of "dubstep" about this album. We had an advance copy we tried to make sense of but kept on having to rip off the stereo as it was saturated in vocodered promo voiceovers which completely destroyed the essence & flow of this subtle, wistful album. The majority of 'North' can be best described as blissed-out soulful, downtempo electronica. They are to Hyperdub what Sinner DC are to Ai records I reckon. This is dreamy, beautiful music which really envelops your mind when headphones are brought into the equation! I could even see a couple of tracks on here crossing over into the indie scene with elements like the tentative underplayed guitar on 'Deadness'. The one real recognisable concession to their clubbier roots comes with the classic "Aidy's Girl..." which was probably shoehorned on here because its got that hazy mid-tempo vibe about it so doesn't appear out of place. On its first proper listen, i'm digging 'North' quite a bit now - they've bridged the gap between ecstasy & melancholy that few acts successfully do, the programming and effortless merging of many styles results in a fairly spiritually enriching listen. My only gripe is whilst there's much attention to detail as regards sonics & atmospherics, there seems to be a slight shortfall in the actual songwriting department. Many songs are simply too busy gazing at the stars and whilst this makes for a pleasant listen - all understated dramatics and all - I'm left hankering for more actual tunes? I'm sure that kinda thing will develop in time, given that everyone's having palpitations about this record. There's no easy comparison with anyone else throughout which means this is probably quite a fresh sounding outing. I reckon if you dug 'Crooks & Lovers' by Mount Kiimbie, this should be on your shopping list

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Darkstar in 2010 are an upgraded model of the Darkstar which released the much loved single ‘Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer’ at the end of 2009. That song, and previous singles ‘Need You’ and ‘Squeeze My Lime’ hinted at a nas- cent songwriting talent and mastery of oozing synth drones that has burst into life on their debut album, ‘North’.

The band have adjusted their focus, adding lead singer James Buttery to the production and writing team of James Young and Aiden Whalley, and the result as heard on ‘North’ is a brave, low-key pop masterpiece, which discards the cheap thrills and treadmill ideas that many deploy to access success. Instead, 'North' will creep up on you with each listen, seducing with its’ achingly gorgeous, synthesized songwriting.

From the intro track ‘In The Wings’, right through to the closing song, a lush new version of 'Squeeze My Lime' now called 'When It's Gone', the album blends their crunchy, citric synths, baroque strings, piano and tender guitar with vocal harmonies, gently laced with glitches and noise. Here, Darkstar have subtly found the beauty in distor- tion. The first single from the album, the catchy ‘Gold’, is a cover of a little known Human League song ‘You Re- mind Me Of Gold’, inspired by hearing the original slowed to 33rpm. Insectoid drum machine rhythms carry the
song along accompanied by a chilly piano.

'Deadness', 'Dear Heartbeat', 'Two Chords' and 'North' impress with their icy radiance, the rich, wafting strings, dreamy guitar and keys bury the otherwise snowy-white sonics, the crunch of the drums and the translucent vocals sounding as if they’re sung by a hologram. Some tracks, like 'Ostkreuz' and aspects of 'Under One Roof' conjure up a soundtrack to Twin Peaks if it was set in the North of England. Mini-anthem of 2009, 'Aidy's Girl Is A Computer' also earns a slot among the new material.

With their first long player, Darkstar have produced an album many bands with far more experience and many more releases and under their belt can only dream of. Downbeat, breezy, sometimes melancholy, sometimes just plain sad, at others optimistic and affirming, and always gracefully elegant, 'North' will surprise many, a classic record
for short days and long nights.

Tracklisting:

01 In The Wings 02 Gold 03 Deadness 04 Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer 05 Under One Roof 06
Two Chords 07 North 08 Ostkreuz 09 Dear Heartbeat 10 When It’s Gone

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