New Listen: Darlingside – Fish Pond Fish
A Journey Of The Imagination With Darlingside
Darlingside has released their new album “Fish Pond Fish” upon us to render into an existential tranquil state where we are transcended into the outside world in each song. This album pays homage to nature in a way that I cannot compare to anything I have ever experienced before. This album paints a vivid mental image where listening to this collection of songs can teleport us mere listeners into the forest looking at the trees, stars, water, sunlight and stars among us.
I find myself plucking out pieces of the lyrics and lingering on the message. I repeatedly discovered myself lost in the music realizing time has passed around me as I regard the poetic lyrics and synergy of the harmonic vocals, cello, violin, guitar and drums. They have come together in a peaceful lull which builds with more energy and back again like waves. It has been a long time since music has piqued my imagination the way this album has if it ever has.
The album is a work between band members Dave Senft (vocals, bass), Don Mitchell (vocals, guitar, banjo), Auyon Mukharji (vocals, violin, mandolin), and Harris Paseltiner (vocals, cello, guitar). Darlingside started studio recording Fish Pond Fish in late 2019 with Grammy Award-winning producer Peter Katis (Interpol, The National). Of course like all things 2020, the pandemic has taken its piece and caused the band to take a different approach than originally planned. The results did not suffer because of this shift in the recording process.
The album opens with a 45 second long intro “Woolgathering” which I imagine is there to set the tone and to decompress the listener so they are in the right state of mind to hear the rest of this album’s offering. This flows directly into “Crystal Caving” which gives us more energy with the addition of more strings and percussion/snare drum like a hint of the backbeat of a march. This song projects light and love as it describes a balance between society and nature. This flows directly into “Ocean Bed” where the soothing vocals seem to describe something a little more haunting in the ocean and the darkness beyond but with an overall peace within that darkness. The steady hand clap with few short breaks that gives the song an overall urgent feel. That is balanced out with the opening of “Keep Coming Home” where the instrumentation is stripped back as the harmonic vocals deliver each word as though it was of the utmost importance.
“Green + Evergreen” brings a shift in the album where there is more percussion and piano. This song is urgent, harmonic, dark and hopeful. I sense a contrast here between nature and civilization where nature is loved and appreciated as though nature can wash away the stress of our lives and provide for us in more ways than basic human needs. In contrast, “Time Will Be” feels more like a country folk song adding in some banjo with acoustic guitar and as always, there is the serene vocals that continue to transcend our imagination outside our present selves.
“February/Stars” is just beautiful. This song begins with an upbeat, harmonic and musically steady song that builds with positivity until the piano makes its appearance where we feel a darkness and sadness or confusion. The imagery in the second part of this song is so profound that you may feel as though you may feel as though you are floating among the constellations.
“Denver” is a sorrowful song of longing and distance. The instruments are simplified and stripped down in consonance of each other. The song is a bit dangerous as Darlingside has done such a good job of conveying this sadness that us listeners may find ourselves dragged into the sorrow along with them. Thankfully “Denver” followed with “Mountain + Sea” where the collection of string instruments, the softness of the drumming and other percussion as well as that steady harmony of the vocals collects and feels like a pool of warmth and light. The impressive strings carry on through “See You Change”. This song is lyrically one of my favorites on this album with lyrics such as, “I look at you to see you change…change into something true but when I reach for the truth, I reach right through.” The song is as captivating lyrically as it is musically.
The ability of Darlingside to create the mental image, captivate, perform and create unimaginable beauty is fully encapsulated in “A Light On In The Dark”. This song leaves you wanting nothing other than to hear it again, chill and decompress from all that the world has offered us. Darlingside has brought this all together in these 11 songs skilfully written, performed and arranged so listening to the album as a whole is a journey we should all be on.
-Jessica Frey
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Track List – Fish Pond Fish
1 Woolgathering
2 Crystal Caving
3 Ocean Bed
4 Keep Coming Home
5 Green + Evergreen
6 Time Will Be
7 February/Stars
8 Denver
9 Mountain + Sea
10 See You Change
11 A Light On In The Dark