"Trenchcoats, shades, snap-brim hats, open-necked shirts and
loose black ties. Not forgetting the cigarettes and alcohol.
Vocalist Shamus Dark has a strong line in film noir visuals
to complement the selection of songbook classics that
appears onTrouble In Paradise. It's not just the cover
photos: the videos that he's created to accompany many of
the songs are also rich with that '40s B-movie glamor. This
is a fine collection—a left-field take on the classics that
reminds us how an artist's vision can throw new light on old
favorites.
Dark's debut, Songs For Suicidal Lovers (Drum Records,
2006), also featured classic songs—a cover of Joy Division's
"Atmosphere" put in an appearance too. On his blog he's
written of a musical career that pre-dates punk rock. The
album was recorded in South Africa and Hong Kong, mastered
at Abbey Road: hints of a globe-trotting life. But further
details of his life are scant, the mystery persists.
Read more
"Trenchcoats, shades, snap-brim hats, open-necked shirts and
loose black ties. Not forgetting the cigarettes and alcohol.
Vocalist Shamus Dark has a strong line in film noir visuals
to complement the selection of songbook classics that
appears onTrouble In Paradise. It's not just the cover
photos: the videos that he's created to accompany many of
the songs are also rich with that '40s B-movie glamor. This
is a fine collection—a left-field take on the classics that
reminds us how an artist's vision can throw new light on old
favorites.
Dark's debut, Songs For Suicidal Lovers (Drum Records,
2006), also featured classic songs—a cover of Joy Division's
"Atmosphere" put in an appearance too. On his blog he's
written of a musical career that pre-dates punk rock. The
album was recorded in South Africa and Hong Kong, mastered
at Abbey Road: hints of a globe-trotting life. But further
details of his life are scant, the mystery persists.
In contrast to Dark's noir-ish visual imagery, his voice is
surprisingly smooth and warm—the sound of a sophisticated
crooner rather than a bluesy back-door man. An English
crooner, too—Dark pronounces "enchant," "grant" and
"witchraft" in a way no American vocalist would ever do.
Good on him. The avoidance of any pretence of an American
accent—or, even worse, a Transatlantic drawl—gives his voice
a distinctiveness and a bit of class.
The instrumentation is also rather at odds with the visuals.
There's a saxophone, courtesy of the excellent Sean Freeman,
but the electric guitar is at least as prominent and Paul
Carmichael's bass guitar also features strongly. The result
is a sound that obviously post-dates all of the songs on
offer (the most recent composition, "Trust In Me," dates
from the mid-60s) but is by no means locked into the 21st
century—echoes of '80s dance, '70s rock and contemporary
jazz all sit happily side by side.
Dark's fragile vocal on "I'm A Fool To Want You" is
beautifully accompanied by Victor Unukovsky's well-judged
acoustic guitar phrases. That fragility is carried over to
"Here's That Rainy Day," Carmichael's slinky bass line and
Adrian Sledmere's guitar adding a contrasting funkiness. On
the latter third of Cole Porter's "It's All Right With Me"
Dark's voice gets some electronic tweaking. It really isn't
necessary—a jarring note to what is otherwise an
impressively soulful performance. Dark's vocal on "Skylark"
is crisp and precise—the musical backing, especially Paul
Harvey's guitar, infuses the song with a soul groove.
The album's high point is "Trust In Me." Written by Robert
and Richard Sherman for Walt Disney's film version of The
Jungle Book (1967) it was sung in the movie by Kaa the
python as he planned to eat Mowgli, the story's hero. Dark
turns the song into a seducer's tale—plausible yet
ultimately a lie, the promise of safety and faithfulness is
given to the accompaniment of Freeman's smooth saxophone.
Who could fail to be swayed by such charms? Or, indeed, by
the equally seductive charms of Trouble In Paradise?"
Bruce Lindsay – All About Jazz
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?
id=46071#.UsB0q_RdV8E
"Around 9pm backed by some suitably dramatic black and white
film footage, Shamus Dark hits the stage and, accompanied
only by a small I-Mac, proceeds to croon his way through a
selection of songs from his debut album Songs For Suicidal
Lovers.
The set consists of moody interpretations of "noir
classics", primarily from the 30s and 40s, but what is
entirely unexpected is that the musical backing is a dark
and ambient electronica (think Massive Attack meets Scott
Walker) with soulful saxophone, piano and trip hoppy beats.
If nothing else, it quickly becomes apparent that at the
very least, Dark's love of the golden era of songwriting is
genuine.
Watching this performance is like watching a character step
out of an old film only to find themselves in modern day
London. It is very odd but utterly compelling. It could
easily be very, very good and it quite possibly is."
Johnny Others www.indieoma.com
"Arranged and mixed by Hong Kong's Pete Millward (the man
behind the excellent series of Celestial albums) and
featuring input from local guitar hero Eugene Pao, the album
is a dark and brooding journey through cover versions as
diverse as Frank Sinatra and Joy Division."
Adam Wright, Outtakes, South China Morning Post
"I think the CD sleeve for SONGS FOR SUICIDAL LOVERS is one
of the best of the year."
Paul Gambaccini
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