Darkfield - Carry Us Away

Darkfield

Carry Us Away
self-released; 2020

3.9 out of 5

By Dan Weston

Darkfield aka Joey Westerlund is an artist from Portland, Oregon. Around a year ago he released History is Violent and he is now back with Carry Us Away. He explains: “Something I tried to do with this album was to write each song as if it was on a soundtrack to a sci-fi or space exploration movie and the song titles reflect what would be happening during each chapter of the film.” On that note this would certainly be an epic movie and in my opinion a drama.

The album starts with “A New Beginning” and was one of the highlights. I thought the piano playing in particular was beautiful. The song starts to build with drums and other elements. I did feel like there was a sense of exploration and wonder as the song progressed. This song builds and for the most part felt like a transition into “Phoenix Down.” “Phoenix Down'' is dynamic and one of the heavier songs overall. There are distorted and clean guitars and a nice dichotomy of sections.

The mood becomes tranquil, meditative and warm on “Echoes” at least initially. As the song progresses it does rock out with drums and distorted guitars. “Halcyon” felt inspirational and motivated. This song made me want to go out and accomplish something. 

“Bloom” is arguably the most dynamic song in the batch. The beginning is very still and intimate and the second half simply blows you through the roof. “The Outsider” continues with epic qualities while “Ares” could be considered the centerpiece at almost seven minutes in length. “Back to the Sky” is the closer which is a solid track.

​There is a formula with these songs. A simple way to put it would be soft to loud or perhaps pensive to cathartic in terms of emotion. Westerlund upped his game with this release and yes the cinematic post-rock is right on the nose.

​If any film makers out there are making a dramatic movie about space exploration you might want to give this composer a ring.

bandcamp

Spotify

Tweet