A little intro to this creative band with an extremely Gothic Americana sound is in order. They are Marc Ford (Black Crowes/Ben Harper/Magpie Salute) on lead guitar, Elijah Ford on bass, piano, and acoustic and electric guitars, Jason Slota (Thao & the Get Down Stay Down) on drums, Rob Shelton (Meernaa) on synths, and Jess and Kels Von Strantz on background vox and cello. And, of course, Craig Helmreich, as in It’s Just Craig. All of the songs appear to be written by Craig, and the majority of the album is a concept piece about a cargo boat captain.
Now that you have that info, why should you listen to this album? It’s amazingly well put together. The vocals are often haunting and always beautiful. The music is nearly uncategorizable, with a gothic vibe to it (maybe having something to do with the story, but mostly because of the haunting vocals). It has a sing/songwriter folk/Americana feel at times. At all times it sounds like a pleasant and intriguing story that you want to stick with until the bitter end (or happy ever after).
There are beat changes. While the songs start out slow and calm, they do speed up and there are changes throughout. The album does well to tell its story. “Siren Sings” is by far one of the most standout songs on Dark Corners.
You can listen to and purchase the album on Bandcamp: https:// itsjustcraig.bandcamp.com/ album/dark-corners
