\nBallads For The Down-Trodden
\nAlbum release by Irish Artist Dar.Ra <\/p>\n
Another quality long playing release from one of our favourite Irish artists Dar.Ra who happens to be based in the UK and raises the flag for dedicated Song-smiths around the globe. <\/p>\n
In essence it\u2019s a collection of some of the more laid back moments from various albums and EPs over the years with an uncovered unreleased gem called \u2018Evermore\u2019 which was penned for his Mothers sad early passing when the \u2018Soul Hours\u2019 album came out in 2008. <\/p>\n
As the album suggests with its title it\u2019s a mixture of joy and sadness as only Ballads can deliver, subjects roll from losing someone too early on both \u2018Rewind\u2019 and \u2018Evermore\u2019 to the thought of walking up with the perfect girlfriend who happens to be transgender, on a track called a \u2018Girl Like You\u2019. <\/p>\n
Nothing is as it seams on any first listen with Dar.Ra and his song writing, as digging deep into subtexts reveal another whole level of storyline and subliminal messages, not that anything sinister and mind controlling is at work but merely to suggest that not everything should be handed away so easily on first experience, which all Art should do. <\/p>\n
\u2018Safe in Your Arms\u2019 is ambitious in its conception deeply layered with a string quartet surrounding; some George Harrison inspired chordal movements. There is a acoustic guitar solo, reminisant of the solo on The Beatles Rubber Soul album track \u2018Girl\u2019 which served as the inspiration, The Russian sounding lamenting guitar runs, hold the track in perfect cadence with the subject matter of being a long way from home. The track first featured on the Soul Hours album and holds sway after being written over ten years ago, a credit you would find hard to give to most music released ten years ago. <\/p>\n
\u2018Wolverine\u2019 and \u2018U Kill Me\u2019 written for the Now Is Now EP in 2012 also hold sway as acoustic ballads. \u2018Wolverine\u2019 is a call to get back to nature while \u2018U Kill Me\u2019 was inspired by French Film Noir Betty Blue, and features a French speaking apart, which could have been written for the film.
\n\u2018Do not follow me as it will lead to your demise\u2019; is the core takeaway from a rough translation. <\/p>\n
\u2018Whisky N Honey\u2019 was released last year, brings us up today date, before we head back into the classic vaults.
\nThrough the height of the pandemic Dar.Ra put out three world class EP\u2019s and singles, Whisky being one of them, while a salute to the Key Workers on \u2018Stand Up For The Heroes\u2019 also finds its way onto this collection. \u2018Whisky n Honey\u2019 has a Bowie esq quality about it and would not of sounded out of place on one of his post Ziggy Stardust albums. <\/p>\n
Slipping back into the time tunnel \u2018Red White and Blue\u2019 comes up again from the Soul Hours album a track that questions our belief in fighting for flags, written while Coalition troops where wading through Iraq and Afghanistan. Dar.Ra had protested against those Wars at the time and clearly takes an Anti War stance in his belief system. <\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m all dressed up in Red White n Blue
\nI\u2019m all dressed up cause it suits my moods,
\nI may just have to add a little Black for someone,
\nwhose never coming back\u2019. <\/p>\n
A Lyric, which begs the question why we keep on doing the same thing while expecting something different to happen a clear definition of insanity. <\/p>\n
We battle on as best we can and sometimes the past becomes too much of a burden to carry as the track \u2018Start Again\u2019 suggests written while on in New Zealand and Australia in the naughties. Driven by a downward descending piano riff, overladen with some clever guitar work creates a tension entwined with the asking lyric <\/p>\n
\u2018Every time I try
\nI keep falling
\nEvery time I try
\nI keep slipping
\nWont you help me to
\nStart Again\u2019 <\/p>\n
While the song starts off with the knowledge that
\n\u2018Everything starts with the flick of the green
\nMoney changes everything\u2019<\/p>\n
Therapy is for people with deposable income while the rest of us have to put up with the demons or slay them ourselves.<\/p>\n
The album traces out with the final shot \u2018Lights\u2019 the version that found itself originally on the \u2018New Kinda Normal\u2019 album released in 2019 a release that gained a lot of support from Radio and Press alike, signing its praises and bringing a new genre called \u2018Rock Step\u2019 which can be heard when you tune into it. <\/p>\n
\u2018Lights\u2019 was written for Robin Williams when the world heard of his tragic passing and the taking of his own life. For a man that brought us such happiness it was a brutal end for such a genius. \u2018Lights\u2019 is a plea to ask; if we are in the darkness may someone pray and keep the \u2018Lights\u2019 on for us in our time of need. <\/p>\n
There are some beautiful moments on this track, epic builds and drops with incredible words that convey the battle lines we fight on every day of our lives that sometimes drown out the beauty of this amazing World we live on.<\/p>\n
This is an album to bring the chills, draw some tears and leave you with some hope that someone is still carrying the banner for Music that moves you on all levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ballads For The Down-Trodden Album release by Irish Artist Dar.Ra Another quality long playing release from one of our favourite Irish artists Dar.Ra who happens to be based in the UK and raises the flag for dedicated Song-smiths around the globe. In essence it\u2019s a collection of some of the more laid back moments from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-written-interviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28099,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28083\/revisions\/28099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}