Darla Farmer
Rewiring The
Electric Forest
Paper Garden Records
By Kevin Hakansson
In a day where there’s just so much out there to hear, it’s difficult for a band to be truly original. Let’s be honest; just about all music rips off some other song, band, or album, to a degree. To have some semblance of true originality, it’s paramount that a band has some element in their music that few, if any, have tried. Out of Nashville comes Darla Farmer, a group who does their best to accomplish such a feat.
Like any act that might be critically attached to that dangerous “O” word, it’s difficult to place Darla Farmer’s debut album in any particular genre. Rewiring the Electric Forest can safely be called a rock and roll album. Every song features a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and vocalist, and usually aren't too out there song structure-wise. But what stands out, though, are the arrangements centered around a unique trio of trumpet, trombone, and violin. The horns truly drive the record, never more evident than on "Big Accident," a song that alternates between anxious and triumphant on cue with the brass section.
The lyrics don't make it completely clear what Rewiring is generally about, but musically, a getaway bank robber scene comes to mind, particularly in light of the fact that the band supposedly named itself after a local bank teller. From a pure listener's standpoint, the record feels as though it follows a story of sorts, each song a new scene. Perhaps that's because the band and engineer/producer Ian Aiello incorporate a number of seamless transitions between songs that seem to really meld together. The raucous, swing oriented opener "The Quotient" marches directly into "History," easily the catchiest number here, and one of a number of songs that makes Darla Farmer sound like a ska band who started listening to a lot of prog rock. Later, the processed vocal line that ends "Big Accident" directly feeds into "Tommy Bones," one of the record's many heavily jazz/swing influenced tunes.
Perhaps the finest pairing of songs, though, comes mid-record. The melancholy "The Strangler Fig" gains momentum, winds up, and throws a haymaker at the beginning of "Dirty Keys," whose opening horn line is one of countless unforgettable moments throughout the record. It'd be tough to find a finer song here, though, than "Sweet Wires of Fire." While "History" may be the catchiest song, "Keys" is the most rambunctious, and the closing "The Apology" is the most technically proficient. "Sweet Wires" basically embodies what this band does well: the trumpet and trombone blare with the brash arrogance of a southern college marching band, the keys are pounded with ferocity, the violin shreds, and vocalist Clint Wilson shows off several sides of himself as a vocalist.
Darla Farmer hails from Belmont University, a school whose music industry connection are second to none, and one that sits squarely in one of the most music heavy cities in the world. As such, there's a pretty good chance some industry types caught wind of the band and made sure their debut record wound up in the right hands. The record's liner notes thank Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogis, whose ARC studios were home to the recording of Rewiring. This is just a presumption, of course; it's entirely possible that these folks, along with label Paper Garden Records simply caught a natural buzz that Darla Farmer's music created. And given this record's undeniable energy, that, quite honestly, would make total sense.
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