Darling West - We’ll Never Know Unless We Try (2020)

Part of the fun in absorbing the music and fully immersing yourself in an album is taking in the cover artwork. For me, it has never ceased to be an essential part of the process. On this new album by Darling West, attention has been paid to the message the cover art is sending out. Firstly, the image of husband and wife duo Mari and Tor Egil Kreken is rather intimate, they are in their vests, and it seems they’re captured in a private moment. Tor Egil is giving the viewer the cold shoulder, half protective of his partner and half with his mind on other matters. Mari, on the other hand, is catching us with a steely glare, ready to let us in a little, to open up perhaps but still showing that she is not to be messed about. With her partner, the engine of this presentation, she will bring the heart and feeling, without letting go of the reigns. As a unit, they are solid, assured and continue to embark on a cosmic journey that this record shows, is unfolding with a bold maturity.

This latest release sees the pair accompanied by Christer Slaaen on guitar, keys and backing vocals with Thomas Gallatin on drums. Esteemed studio mechanics Kare Vestrheim and Mike Hartung have driven the creation of a polished set of songs. “Hey, there babe I hear a humming, the sweetest humming in my ears” are the first words Mari sings on an opening song called ‘Hey There’, which rather astutely predicts the lushness that will follow. That pop element is instantly audible on the second tune ‘Make It Last’. You can feel that warm West Coast breeze brush across your face as the lyric attempts to fend off the next day and hold onto a magical night. Those harmonies glide through with the sweetest essence of Buckingham & Nicks while the full band bedding wraps itself around the song. This is a classy endeavour.

‘Can’t Help It’ continues the pop flavour, it’s a slightly more driven production this one, more of a foot tapper. Again, it features some satisfying musical changes, particularly in the way the chorus pushes the melody higher and higher into the clouds before some delightfully sun-drenched guitar patterns burst through and sprinkle the tune in audio nectar. ‘River’, with it’s pleading refrain of “come and meet me down by the river”, has a hint of the gospel about it. The intermittent beats are ripe for hand-clapping accompaniment. Once again, gorgeous melodies swoop down from the heavens as the breaks are vehicles for Tor Egil to cut loose on guitar and sonic elements that are absolute bliss.

The title of the album comes from a line in ‘Try’, a song-positive that extols the virtues of risking where you are for where you might be and just being brave enough to go for it. Once again, I cannot understate what a vital element the instrument arrangements play in making these tunes come alive. Here there are some beautiful moments of sliding electric guitar that will surely turn your head. And speaking of attention-grabbing details, the song ‘True Friends’ is a co-write with one of the absolute beacons in modern Americana. Aaron Lee Tasjan has been a firm favourite of mine for past few years, so it’s nice to see an artist of his calibre lending his seal of approval to Darling West.