The Silver Darlings “Souls”
Excellent sea-themed pop-folk set
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A loose Sheffield-based co-operative with a variable membership rotating around writer and guitarist Andy Whitehouse, The Silver Darlings sit in that ill-defined area between folk and pop. Martin Stephenson is a fan and there are similarities to his work with the Daintees in the Souls upbeat pop.
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The sea is the dominant theme throughout. The band’s name is what those from the North-East used to call herring, the title track reworks the old legend of the Silkie, a child from the sea who ultimately returns to it and there’s water imagery everywhere with perhaps the best example being “Polishing your Pearl”, an upbeat piano driven song about a girl who has “cast off her lines, left this world behind” and whom the narrator must “cast off his anchor” and follow come what may.
The music has tendencies towards the epic a la the Waterboys, though Whitehouse’s vocals are not always up to his ambition. When they are though and the band is in full flow he sweeps and swoops over the music to magical effect. It’s music to make you feel better, hard to categorise, easy to enjoy and when the album closes with a quiet, intense waltz the repeat button is the first thing you reach for.
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