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Artist
Darlingchemicalia
12+ albums
folkrockindieexperimentalsacramento
about
Darling Chemicalia’s EP Ghost Sketch has been gaining a small but rapid group of admirers around the Sacramento music scene for some time now. The brainchild of singer/songwriter/ Ian Bone, this is clearly a personal labor of love and it shows in that every song is crafted with care and unconventional production choices. Unlike a lot of avant-garde music though, Ghost Sketch never comes off like an experimental jam session or some foray into artsy concept-album nonsense. There are legitimate songs here, but they never sound glossy or poppy enough to be completely accessible either. The EP successfully straddles the line between shoe-gaze, electro, art rock, and lo-fi basement pop in a way that seems entirely natural rather than forced. Opening track “Hospital Song” features off-timed finger plucking mixed with Bone’s haunting reverb-soaked vocals, which is followed by shoe-gaze pop gem “I Check Out Everyone” emphasizing propulsive drums, banjo, xylophone, and barely recognizable lyrics surrounded by walls of sound and wailing guitar solo. “Kingdom Contagion” has a woozily drunken vibe with acoustic guitar, tambourine and keyboard complimented nicely by Bone’s high-pitched tenor. “When You’re Dead” is a demented campfire song complete with handclaps, shouting gang vocals, and warped kazoo, while “Much” joins moody electronic flourishes and twinkling piano with digital blips and spastic Apex Twin-style techno. “Zombie” is a minimalistic acoustic number that features some the a
