Darker My Love

Like most rock & roll bands trying to find its niche these days, Darker My Love is an amalgamation — of decades of popular music, of underground movements, of genres and subgenres. Much like the Stone Roses and the Dandy Warhols, the Los Angeles band creates oceanic lulls and sways, before assaulting listeners with energetic guitar bursts that catapult from somber introspection to euphoric intensity. Still, Darker My Love sets itself apart from the pack with its sophomore album, 2. The record starts aggressively, with the noise-laden pop gems "Blue Day" and "Two Ways Out," before 2's midway point slow-morphs into an unpredictable psychedelic ride. The most eerily languid tune is "All the Hurry and Wait," where creeping verses are juxtaposed with epic choruses that float weightlessly on a melancholy bed of strings, reminiscent of those on Beck's Sea Change.