In what felt like a terminal wait between Darwin Deez’s glorious self titled debut, and the follow-up, ‘Songs For Imaginative People’, occasional videos would show up of Darwin shredding the bejeezus out of a guitar from the comfort of his own home. Usually a cover of some proggy-jam from a bygone era, it was clear that this was one type of music Darwin liked to listen to, and play. However, what he liked to create, based on that first album, was something quite different. It used simple, steady chord structures, creating charming indie pop.
With album’s two and three now under his belt, his live show now highlights his pure, unadulterated love of a face-melter, and how he’s begun to incorporate that into his music. The show opens with a couple of ‘oldies’ from album one, ‘Constellations’ and ‘The City’ highlighting the old Darwin style. Oh, and the between-song dance routines are still an ever-present part of the Darwin Deez experience. It wouldn’t be a Darwin show without it. But it’s when we get into the meat of the set that fretful guitar fireworks act as a lynchpin and centrepiece for the whole set.
‘Chelsea’s Hotel’ closed album two, and is a track most people, myself included, wouldn’t place in their list of favourites. But hidden away in this lesser-known track is a lead guitar riff weaving through the chorus that’s quite the departure from what we’ve come to expect. With a live airing, Darwin and his band take that chorus riff as an opportunity to expand the track into something almost double in length, with Darwin evoking the spirit of those aforementioned videos as he gets to break free of the shackles of his usual sound.
‘Redshift’ follows not long after, and plays a similar trick to ‘Chelsea’s Hotel’, before the show closes out flicking between tracks from his new record, Double Down, and his debut. Darwin spoke openly ahead of Double Down’s release that he was looking to re-create the sound of his debut a little, and when tracks get played next to each other, that’s easy to hear. The lead guitar riffs on tracks like ‘Kill Your Attitude’ act as commas and full stops between his lyrics, just like on set closer ‘Bad Day’. But there’s something smart to those simple arrangements that helps to nestle those melodies into your brain, accentuated when hearing them live. Now we just need to wait to see what videos Darwin posts once he’s done touring to figure out what to expect next time round.
Horses Playing Harps 