Album review: Black Music by Dark Horses | TQS Magazine

When you first see a group photo of Dark Horses you don’t really take much notice, they’re really no different from any other rock band that you’ve seen since rock was invented. Leather jackets, cigarettes shooting glares towards the cameraman. But as the old saying goes; don’t judge a book by its cover. You see this is no ordinary run of the mill rock band. In fact I wouldn’t really call what they do rock. It’s a blend of lo-fi synth woven alternative punk, which for me must me a first. Usually when you hear a band whose genre takes almost a full sentence you think that there will be too much going on, that it will be overly produced and that they should dial it down, Dark Horses may have changed all that. Yes Black Music is ambitions, but sometimes ambitious attempts work out for the best.

Black Music starts where it means to continue with soulful echo that goes by the name Rose a fantastic opening track that you really need a good pair of headphones to appreciate, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the band decided to release it as a single. One track that will be coming as a preview of the album is the third track of the album Alone which you could easily mistake for something off of a Metric album. Such an accomplished sound is strange from a debut album but with Richard Fearless of Death In Vegas taking over of the production of the album it’s easy to see why it sounds as good as it does. But I don’t want to give all the credit to the production of the album as good as it is I doubt the album would be as good if it weren’t for Lisa Elle (below), which has quickly became one of my favourite things about this year in music.

Since we’re on the subject about music over the past year one of the biggest surprises was hearing a Talking Heads cover, to have the balls to do one let alone on your first attempt at an album is pretty impressive. And one of the nicest things is that it works. Road To Nowhere one of The Talking Heads best loved songs is given a really nice polish and different spin. This though pretty much sums up Black Music for me, it’s a surprise and a good one at that.

4/5

‘Black Music’ is released 29th October

Matthew Foran