PRESS KIT “Downright Stunning.” GLOBE & MAIL
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THE DARCYS PRESS KIT “Downright stunning.” GLOBE & MAIL “The Darcys haven’t missed a step, expertly arranging their lush, effects-laden soft-rock compositions.” NOW “An ear-catching collection of sweeping, multilayered songs.” NATIONAL POST “Lushly layered, lightly proggy arrangements.” CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND “With a mix of lightly distorted guitars, melodic, instantly catchy riffs, drum beats that propel songs forward to rewarding climaxes, and light keyboard touches that give tracks depth and substance, The Darcys are showing that they are here for the long haul.” BAEBLE “A serious contender to next year’s Polaris Prize, The Darcys is a superb achievement, both meditated and meditative.” HOUR “The Darcys is a monstrously tuneful prog-rock epic that improbably finds common ground between Radiohead and Steely Dan.” TORONTO STAR “An inspiring blend of polished pop and avant garde experimentation.” POP MATTERS “The odd details throughout The Darcys — a gospel choral breakdown, a barely detectable violin solo... lyrics that wink at self-awareness — surface like cream.” ONION A.V. CLUB THEDARCYS.CA MUSIC: CONCERT REVIEW The Darcys: A New and Momentous Beginning BRAD WHEELER At The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, on Friday There is the calm, there is the storm, and then there are the Darcys, young art-rock wonders who do both simultaneously. Their results are meaningful, momentous and absolutely enviable. In the beery dark showroom at the Horseshoe Tavern, in front of a bustling co-ed crowd, the Toronto quartet set impassioned melodic emotion against funnelling washes of electric feedback and gauzy textures. Crescendos figured; the drummer and bassist clearly had eaten their Wheaties or spinach. As the band members set up their equipment, they did so to the relatively breezy sounds of Steely Dan, a progressive group of music-obsessives who the Darcys admire (perhaps for their persnicketiness), but do not emulate. Rather, it is Radiohead, one has to think, who the Darcys send fan letters to. Something like Don’t Bleed Me, which begins with a tumbling beat, white noise and a simple sinister keyboard riff, features high singing synonymous to the arcing vocals of Thom Yorke. In another similarity to Yorke’s band, the Darcys’ latest album (self-titled) is free for the download — the only copies at the merchandise table were vinyl, not compact disc. There’s a colourful story — colourful to me; tormented to the band — to the making of the album. The plot involves stolen equipment, a knifepoint stick-up, a van accident on an icy road, and the abrupt exit of their former lead singer. Vocals tracks were re-recorded, lawsuits were filed and the album was re-mixed not once but twice. The group’s debut album was 2007’s Endless Water, but that’s just what the Wikipedia discography will tell you. For all intents and purposes, the gorgeous new eponymous release is the Darcys’ beginning. It’s the first instalment of a three- record deal with Toronto’s Arts & Crafts label, and the songs played at the Horseshoe were drawn exclusively from that new album. Can’t say that the Darcys miss their former vocalist, no offence to that chap. Guitarist-keyboardist Jason Couse has a lovely, lush soar to him. Whether it was the sound system, his concentration of conveying emotion at the expense of enunciating, or my own mushy eardrums, his elegantly chosen words were hard to make out. A shame. “Everyone has got all the time but me,” Couse sang on the shimmering I Will be Light. And it’s true that the Darcys have time to make up. Apparently both of their next two albums are already recorded, with the talk being that the new material is different than the sounds just out. Those sounds are grand, moody and uplifting – who knows what happier days will bring. THE DARCYS PRESS KIT THE GLOBE AND MAIL NOVEMBER 2011 Free Download: The Darcys’ ‘Josie’ Listen to the group’s take on a Steely Dan hit Toronto-based art rock group The Darcys released their self-titled debut on October 25th and have recently recorded a cover of Steely Dan’s “Josie” for their upcom- ing AJA tribute album, set for a January 24th release. Giving a nod to one of their favorite bands, The Darcys decided to craft their version of “Josie” in a decidedly different tone. “With ‘Josie,’ we wanted to create an ominous mood to close the record. The Steely Dan version plays like a breezy pop song about a beautiful girl, but the lyrics hint at violence and reckless abandon,” The Darcys’ Wes Marskell says. “Who is Josie to incite all of this? And where has she been? We loved the incongruity between Steely Dan’s feel and lyrical content, but our goal was to subvert the original by undermining that polarity.” You can download The Darcys’ dark version of “Josie” for free here. THE DARCYS PRESS KIT ROLLING STONE JANUARY 2012 “We lost sleep; we lost weight; we stopped eating — it was horrible,” Wes Marskell says of The Darcys’ sophomore slump. By Mike Doherty As Wes Marskell’s band, The Darcys, struggled to finish were preparing a showcase for the album they’d just fin- their self-titled second album, he took up a bartending job ished recording, when their lead singer abruptly quit. Cue at Toronto’s Medieval Times dinner theatre. The drummer much re-recording (with guitarist Jason Couse stepping in would serve tourists drinks called Maiden’s Kiss and Drag- on vocals), messy legal proceedings and three full mixes of on Slayer and tell girls he was really The Green Knight the album; finally, last month, they released it — for free. (they never believed him), all the while repeating to himself the mantra: “I’m in a rock band. It’s going to be fine.” “It’s not about making a million dollars on the record,” Marskell says. “It’s about people having it.” Which isn’t to The Darcys are a talented quartet, but up until now, they’ve say he’ll be back in a tunic and tights soon: the white hardly been an advertisement for giving up one’s day job. In knight that rode in to save the band was Arts & Crafts March 2010, after a trying year (during which they had (Feist, Broken Social Scene), the highly regarded Toronto equipment stolen, were held up at knifepoint, and nearly label whose strategies sometimes seem perplexing but can perished when their tour van spun out on black ice), they often prove inspired. Over lunch at a Queen Street eatery, THE DARCYS PRESS KIT NATIONAL POST NOVEMBER 2011 Marskell and Couse reflect on their pursuit of musical Enter Arts & Crafts, who, perhaps uniquely as a label, were perfection, the obstacles they’ve faced and their sense of poised to help get the monkey off the quartet’s backs — by hope after being a band in distress. releasing the album online, gratis. The long-time friends from Etobicoke, Ont., started jam- “It’s something we need to share with people so we can ming as a two-piece in high school, influenced by densely move on creatively and as people,” Couse says. Back in textured shoegazer music and yacht-rockers Steely Dan 2007, Arts & Crafts had pre-empted the physical release of alike; when they moved to Halifax for university, they met Stars’ album In Our Bedroom After the War with a digital like-minded bassist Dave Hurlow and vocalist Kirby Best. release (and thus angered industry folk who felt they were Together, they bashed out their debut, Endless Water devaluing physical product), but not even they had released (2007), which Marskell describes as the sound of a “post- an album for free. rock band … that wanted to get drunk and meet girls.” “It’s harder and harder to get anyone to pay attention to But there were signs their studies were having an effect, new artists,” says the label’s co-founder and president, beginning with their band name, taken from English-lit set Jeffrey Remedios. He believes Arts & Crafts have much to text Pride and Prejudice. Couse likens their writing and gain “by people hearing this band and trying to cut through rehearsing sessions to “all-night essay writing blitzes,” and some of the clutter” rather than “selling this album to a says a fourth-year course called The Deconstruction of the much smaller base.” Tradition of the 20th Century encouraged The Darcys to rethink their strategy. “We responded to the feelings we So far, The Darcys — an ear-catching collection of sweep- had about that [first] album by turning to a super-critical ing, multilayered songs, both gauzy and abrasive — has work ethic.” been downloaded some 3,000 times. They’ve received emails from fans in the U.S. and Europe thanking them Upon graduation, the band members returned to Toronto, and saying they’ve subsequently ordered copies on vinyl — added guitarist Michael le Riche, an electronics wiz who the only format in which the album is actually being sold. makes his own effects pedals, and grew more ambitious. Arts & Crafts plan to make money from LPs (the first When it came time to record The Darcys’ second album, pressing of 500 having sold out), from merchandising and producer Murray Lightburn, whom they’d admired for his from touring: with fingers crossed about their gear, The “giant, sprawling” work with his band The Dears, told them Darcys are returning to the road. What’s more, making up to simplify their approach. Couse and Marskell, who had for lost time, they’ve already recorded a second album due adopted an obsessive, Steely Dan-like attention to detail, in January, with a third slated for later next year.