Diana Darby ha una voce meravigliosa

Honesty in art is rare these days, but honesty this eloquent, unequivocal and stunningly beautiful is, in my experience, almost unique. It is not just the lyrics which pull no punches, the music - uncompromisingly sparse, brittle, and unostentatious - and Diana Darby's hushed, subtle, quietly soulful voice, seemingly provide direct access to the disquieting, disconsolate, resolutely candid core of the artist's inner being. Less ostensibly autobiographical than her previous two albums, the pain evoked in songs like "Black Swan" (highlighting the vulnerability inherent in beauty) and the frankly eerie "The Murder" is nevertheless just as intense and real, while listening – really listening - to the entire album in one sitting leaves you feeling challenged, emotionally taut, but somehow subtly enriched and thankful. Would that such honesty as this were endemic; it would leave the world in general, and the world of popular music in particular, significantly less perplexing and perverse.