Michael Dean Damron – When The Darkness Come
Sad Songs Keep the Devil Away
Posted On August 1, 2015
Sad song poet laureate Michael Dean Damron’s latest offering, When the Darkness Come, is no respite for the weary. Here are 11 wistful permeations of creative rock and roll, each hardly peeking its head out of the proverbial cave of darkness. It’s not a theme untraveled for a Damron project. Even I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House, Damron’s Portland, Oregon-based country punk outfit, never steered far from the melancholia, albeit a few decibels and BPMs up the meter from this record.
It’s become sort of cliché at times these days: The louder rocker opts for an acoustic guitar and a mouth harp harness, and starts picking folk chords with a foot stomp in a I-IV-V. The stark reality is that we all mature by the year, hell even the day. A lesson learned, a stone uncovered — these things naturally spill over to songwriting too. It is, after all an emotional bleed put to a back beat, on audible display for the world to consume. That’s courage and ultimate vulnerability in its purest form. Damron does this but keeps a solid right hand guard, as he jabs away at you mentally via pen and chord progressions, with slips and three-punch combinations. The album is a nod to an amateur pugilism career while serving this great country in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division. He is a slave to self-discipline and self-sabotage at one point or another, some times more than others.
When the Darkness Come opens with a haunting chorus and reverbed keyboard over sultry pedal steel fills and a two-note hypnotic acoustic strum on “The Butcher.” A Spanish-tinged, 21 gun salute-style trumpet part accentuates the chorus of the dark, cantankerous tale and sets the tone for the record’s ultimate feel and presence. It progresses into the possibly autobiographical “Diabetes Blues,” lamenting the disease and all its inconveniences while questioning faith in the face of tragedy. The first two tracks highlight the sound and attitude Damron and producer Fernando Viciconte are striving for. Minimal layers and obtuse fills bring Damron’s vivid lyrics to the forefront — a far cry from his vocals being in constant competition with dual guitars and a harp in his band. Not that I don’t love that too. (Viciconte has a pretty nifty record out himself … more on that later.)
These are songs that strike dangerously close to the soul, even those co-penned by Viciconte. There’s also a Hank Williams cover and close friend Mishka Shubaly’s “Am I the Only One Drinking Tonight?” The latter is a dismal blues/country affair that is nailed home by Damron’s casually exhausted croon. Personal favorite “Little Red” is the resident barn burner on When the Darkness Come. The guitar work by Richmond Fontaine’s Dan Eccles on that tune is a brain freezer in and of itself, not to mention Damron’s warped version of the classic fairytale.
Fontaine’s Paul Brainard handles pedal steel and trumpet on the record, with Allen Hunter on bass, Scott McPherson on drums, Ralph Huntley on the keys, and Miss Mikey Jodell on the backing vocals. There’s also some fantastic album art from writer/artist Vanessa Jean Speckman. When the Darkness Come is a must-have for any sad song enthusiast in 2015. What else can you expect from Sad Crow Records and Portland, Oregon?
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