The Darlings

Yeah I Know

(Famous Class Records)

US release date: 9 June 2009

UK release date: 9 September 2009

By Estella Hung

 Amazon
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With a name like the Darlings, there’s no saying this band is as Californian as shrimp tostadas. Bulked up and tattooed like the Offspring, the band brings to the saturated MySpace ether golden ‘90s punk that’s pummelled by dirty guitar work a la the Strokes and the odd Brian Wilson-style melodic purity. Unfortunately, with lyrics on its sophomore effort Yeah I Know seldom more sophisticated than the desire to get “fucked up in the car” with a friend with admirably skinny legs, this quartet of post-college-age amp-blasters may be found no more attractive than shrivelled-up iguanas beyond the college circuit. The Darlings suffer from the double whammy of appearing like a band past its prime, while making music past its prime. The only aspect of Yeah I Know that seems to have some artistic license is its cover, and the irony of this highly pixilated image of three Mancunian-looking lads circa 1978 with arms crossed is piercing.

— 1 November 2009
 
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Comments

Pretty sure you got the wrong Darlings there in your band description.  The band that made “Yeah I Know” is a bunch of wiry young Brooklyn hipsters, not bulked-up tatted-up LA punks.

Same name, different band. I don’t know if this changes your assessment of “Yeah I Know,” but some of the description of the music in your review doesn’t quite ring true, either. There’s not a lot of “golden 90s punk” or “pummelling” or “amp-blasting” going on here. These Darlings are a very of-the-moment late-aughts melodic lo-fi garage rock band from Brooklyn. Fairly tight musically but not overly so, a little strummy jangle, laconic vocal delivery, everything a bit fuzzy. And bouncy enough and with enough good melodies to keep a guy coming back to a handful of the songs, “Teenage Girl” and the title track in particular.

Comment by jay from phoenix, az — November 2, 2009 @ 11:31 am

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