Loose Lips

This time around I have decided to review an amazing indie rock album by Des Ark called Loose Lips Sink Ships. This album is not one to be missed!

Des Ark is relatively local to my area (chapel hill area) and I remember seeing them play a show around here for the first time a couple years back and being really taken aback by how damn good they were and how much they could rock with simply guitar and drums and they played on the floor in front of the stage so there was this comfy feel to the rock show as all of the various locals crowded there little spot and moved there heads to and fro to the sound of the rock.

Although this is a pretty aggressive band at times they never lose control of a song and its always very tight yet just loose enough to give it a really raw feel. On the album they have taken there simple little set up and turned there music into a huge, lush sounding record stuffed full of long yet well composed ballads for the world. I remember hearing some of these songs on an older recording and ill have to say that they have come a long way since then.

I should mention that the guitarist is a girl and she can rock the guitar like you won't believe. Not that girls can't rock as much as guys can at all, I'm telling you this as proof that they can rock just as much as anyone. The drummer picks up and fills in tracks with a huge hard hitting style that is always right on. You can tell on the record and at there live shows that they have been playing together for a long time and have come a long way with there sound since I saw them in that little club years ago.

The melodies and guitar riffs are all very recognizable as there own creation and seem to come from all sorts of various influences to come together and form something very unique and memorable. Some of these tracks were stuck in my head after hearing them live and I didn't even realize it until I had heard them on this record. Each song has this feel to them that I can't seem to really put into words for whatever reason. Listening to them feels as though you are listening to a story of some sort and there is this progression in the songs like reading a novel with different chapters to listen through and explore. It all comes complete with a subtle drama that lines the whole album. Its a rock album at heart, a punk rock album at that but Des Ark does a great job of breaking it up with their efforts to make some really unique compositions. Also if your not looking for something too aggressive then check out the first song called Some Are Love, it is a really amazing opening track that shows that they can rock the acoustic guitar as well as they can the electric.

So if your ready for some amazing music plop down a few dollars (only eight bucks in iTunes!) put it on and turn it up.

Here is a link in iTunes:



Also, I was poking around and found what appears to be a description of the band written by the band and I found it pretty interesting so I thought I would throw it down here at the bottom of the review:

"The Des Ark Liberation Front and the Days of Prole Workers Coalition :: As a two-piece, guitar/drum duo we work hard to break down the confines of what is expected, or considered the norm in Independent music. With the mentality that absolutely nothing is sacred, traditional song structures collapse, standard tunings are made obsolete and the elitist dynamic of Performer/Audience relationship is made a little more equal by considering the implications of, and thusly refusing to, place ones self on a pedestal or stage. Des Ark absolutely refuses to rely on their past accomplishments for status or cred, Des Ark will never be one of those x-members of bands. What's done is done and the past is dead and gone leaving us only with the lessons we were given. Drawing on the past for a sense of accomplishment or worth will inevitably lead to complacency."