The cover of Dark Horses’ Black Music depicts the emptiness of outer space and is evocative of the sound of the album itself; that is, a vast empty vacuum devoid of substance. Though in fairness, there are many who might view such a starscape as beautiful, so one must not be mistaken in thinking that such beauty will also be found on Black Music.
What we have here is a sort of poor man’s The xx, without any of the deep emotional resonance that band brings. Dark Horses create music that strives to be deep in its ambiance, and heavy in its minimalism. This is clear in one of the near-successes of the album “No Dice,” but this too suffers from the sprawling lack of interest that permeates the album – even the vocalist here seems to wish she was somewhere else.
Perhaps most perplexing is a cover of the Talking Heads song “Road to Nowhere,” the title of which becomes ever more apt here. The true horror of this band covering the song can hardly be vocalized save for mad shouts of expletives between harrowed breaths. Worst of all is that the mediocre sound that they have worked so hard to cultivate is completely jettisoned here for a generic near-poppy indie sound. It’s not to say that one can’t employ multiple styles on an album, but the mode of cover employed here is so uncharacteristic to the tone of the rest of the album as to inspire some confusion.
Where should this album be played? Hopefully in space, as the cover art depicts, because in space no one can hear you sing. (Last Gang, lastgangentertainment.com) Devin King