Darkest Hours is the follow-up to the band's debut Floating Feather and, despite the sorrowful title and morbid themes, it is a surprisingly upbeat record.
Built around a core of husband and wife Dan and Kelsey Bowman, it’s the work of a choral collective of rotating songwriters and singers.
The male singer (Dan?) sounds uncannily like Colin Meloy of The Decemberists and the seafaring theme of lead single Wreck Of The Fallible emphasises the similarity.
I'd be more inclined to think the band were serious about the heavy issues they sing about if they didn't sound so goddamn chirpy all the time.
The lyrics to Ashes and Bend casually chronicle the pain of lost love and what are we to make of the jaunty tone in a song about a man whose daily routine includes murder and violence?
This tune, Habit, also includes bleak lines about ageing "I am an old man without capacity to change and I've got one foot in the grave"
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The busker's beats founded on layered harmonies, banjos, accordions, ukuleles and fiddles are simply incongruous to tales of hardship, poverty, death and loss.
At least in the affectionate ballad to their home city of Dallas, Texas, , there are more obvious reasons to be cheerful.
Wallowing in despair is not something I'd recommend but what's missing on this album is a clearer contrast between happy and sad stories.
Fox And The Bird's website
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