SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE DARTS – HALLOWEEN LOVE SONGS

THE DARTS
HALLOWEEN LOVE SONGS
MEOW HISS MUSIC/ADRENALIN FIX MUSIC

Although we are in the winter months, and spring is around the corner, The Darts have decided that this was a good time to release a Halloween themed album. Halloween Love Songs is a great album no matter when it lands on your turntable. Yes, this would, commercially, have been better suited for October, but one has to trust that The Darts know exactly what they are doing. Halloween Love Songs is garage, punk, surf, and spooky music all rolled up into a neat package. This is their first studio album since 2024’s Boomerang, and although the band is based in Seattle, they recorded the album in Los Angeles with famed producer Mark Rains (Death Valley Girls). No need to worry, this is not an L.A. sounding album at all. The album sounds like it would be better placed in Transylvania.

The band consists of Nicole Laurenne (lead vocals, keyboards), Rebecca Davidson (guitars), Lindsay Scarey (bass, Mellotron, sound effects) and Rikki Styxx (drums). Scarey and Styxx form a perfect, hard driving rhythm section for the entire album, with Laurenne adding so much to her vocals while contributing some incredible keyboard sounds. Davidson adds very tuneful and melodic guitar to the band, and the combination is groovy and hard.

SPILL FEATURE: BECAUSE THERE’S NO GOOD LENT SONGS – A CONVERSATION WITH NICOLE LAURENNE OF THE DARTS

Halloween Love Songs opens with a creepy music box introduction that launches the band into a full-fledged garage rock attack with “Midnight Creep.” Of course, “Midnight Creep” is a dance that we can all enjoy year round. This is followed by a scream, and we are off to watch the “Zombies On The Metro.” You are going to have to keep up this band, as there are no ballads or rests. That does not mean the entire album sounds the same, far from it. There are a lot of different sounds found throughout the album. The closing song, “Late Drive” for example, is closer to heavy metal than garage and there are a lot of other sideroads the band takes us on throughout the album. “Haunt Me” comes closest to being a love song. And it fits nicely between the rocking “Up In My Soul” and “Shadow.”

Halloween Love Songs is a fun album full of dark imagery.

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