Light a few candles, not because you’re haphazardly attempting seduction, but because you’re reveling in a moment or two alone. Nick Drake seems too ominous and Leonard Cohen will only you how alone you are. Occupying that shaky yet gratifying middle ground is Deep Dark Woods and their third LP, “Winter Hours.” The alt-country outfit from the barren fields of Saskatoon, Canada owes heavily to their influences, wearing Neil Young’s plaintive vocals and the emotive story-telling of The Band on their checkered sleeves. Yet when these twelve tearful tracks are heard free of influence in solemn surroundings, “Winter Hours” stands alone as an attempt to convey the desperate space which they were born out of.
While there’s certainly enough depression to go around these days, the delicate finger picking, time-honoured lap-steel guitar and rustic vocals on “All The Money I Had Is Gone” shadows a helpless narrator who might elicit the same kind of tears were the sad tale happening to a younger brother. This is the secret of Deep Dark Woods, seeking out the emotions we all know exist within us, but under various guises we attempt to shield. “Winter Hours” is not the record you want to be faced with on a cold, open road but it’s a record that you probably owe to yourself to hear.
Review By: Joshua Kloke
[Rating: 4/5]
