What do I like the most about darlingd’s new album Life and How to Live it? It would definitely have to be the baritone voice of lead singer and guitarist Daniel Taylor. It’s just so different from what you hear out there today—it has such a rich texture and just seems to melt around you like warm butter. Life and How to Live it is the first full-length rock album for this group who counts bands like School of Fish and Toad the Wet Sprocket as influences, to give you an idea of their sound. Catchy pop-infused tracks are dominate on this 10 track album, but that’s not to say that it sounds like anything out there right now. This is definitely an album worth picking up and giving a spin.
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Crunchy, darkly tuneful gothic pop. Maybe more Smithsy than goth, but I think you get the point.  This sound is coming back fast and these folks have a real nice handle on it.
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I am extremely glad to have this disk of ten songs, and I like it as much as the five-song ep I reviewed a few months back. It’s smart, listenable, lush, and artistic throughout -- in the best, most satisfying sense. Various blurbs describe darlingd -- Daniel Taylor, Gavin Fisher et al -- as riding the line between pop and darkwave, or between alternative and emo, etc -- I'll go back a bit and say this reminds me of a cleaner, drier, poppier version of Joy Division from many years hence. But that's just one inept comparison. I can hear a bit of REM, one of their Georgia precursors -- and there's been a lot of good music from Georgia, hasn't there? I think, like a few other areas, -- MPLS comes to mind, the high standards of past successes has raised the bar for later artists like this. Darlingd is the real deal, and the disk demands repeat listening and a regular space in your collection. Songs that I like a lot: #1. Fallout, #3. Something's wrong, #4. Mistake, #5, #6, #7, #8, ( I'll wait in line...to be just just like you.) --beautiful piano unexpectedly...#9 great...Kurt would have liked it....ok, I like #10 too.
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wow.. I actually had gotten this CD as a freebie (one of the things I love about CDBabay!! ** unbiased plug here**)
and I was really.. really surprised to hear Darlingd. Wow, man'o'man, like totally.. anyhow   am not to sure what I am  hearing here. Bits of the Cure? Crash Test Dummies? Depeche Mode? as a listener I will tell you if you buy this CD you will not be disappointed. This-- this is the reason I am a fan of Inde music!! To stumble across gems like Darlingd
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