I see that look upon your face. The one that says “Why not review a perfect snowflake? Why not review your first love?”
Because, Mr./Mrs./Ms. Smarty Pants, snowflakes melt and my first love was a painfully earnest exercise in learning how not to be a complete shit all of the time, and mostly failing at that.
Hence I See A Darkness.
People like to rip on the haystackers* both because they’re the big name in Indietown and because they generally write like smuggy ding-dongs who need a wedgie so badly that the universe cries out for vengeance against their butt cracks, but they’re not wrong about this being one of the best albums of the 1990s. It absolutely is.
Low key, low-fi, and no low end. Quiet, desperate times at 3 a.m.; maudlin with good reason.
* (Ha ha, get it?)
7 Comments
February 18, 2009 at 10:10 pm
I’ve been thinking about this album a lot recently. I was too harsh on it at first. There are still a few songs on it that bore me, but if I could write songs like Will Oldham, I’m pretty sure my life would be forever complete.
He’s goin’ on tour soon!
February 19, 2009 at 7:54 am
yeah, i’ve only seen him once, opening for godspeed! back in the 90s. he played “64″ a song that as far as i know he’s never released properly, which is too flippin’ bad.
man i would totally be into seeing him this time around.
February 22, 2009 at 5:16 pm
dhex,
a) no i dont get it. haystackers?
b) i can type like you, see?
c) wow typing like this is addictive.
4) i just learned how to rock i see a darkness on guitar, thanks to teh intarweb. so i am > will oldham, but gaining on him rapidly.
February 22, 2009 at 5:20 pm
shit that should have been “< will oldham” but that is so obvious that this post is really unneccesary.
February 22, 2009 at 9:36 pm
pitchfork.
haystack.
i run deep like a river.
March 1, 2009 at 9:52 pm
“64″ is on his EP with Mick Turner (as Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy), Get On Jolly. That’s long been one of my favorite songs too.
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Jolly-Marquis-Tren/dp/B00004Y9QP/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1235962232&sr=8-2
March 2, 2009 at 10:44 am
awesome!
i will get up on that posthaste.