(3-track single/ 2000)
Darling�s dark indie-pop is the female fronted equivalent of Placebo�s blackened excess. Tense and toiling, on into the �Blackout� (once removed from their LP, �Initiation�) chorus the voice reminds of JJ72�s Mark�s, and has huge scope. Here�s a song about intense infatuation, possible bullet lovers - underpinned by an interned, lustily mucky guitar chug. Overflow�s vox ease out of a twisted witch�s coven, drumbeat-focused and cradling a serious, Easternised chant. Resetting their parameters immediately besides their variable intentions, the experienced vox beckon an automated future, generalising and rounding-off the rawest of emotions to still remain challenging, �Overflow� playing like a spitefully sinister bad dream� �See me paint a picture of everything I�ve ever seen.� Last-but-best, �Untitled No. 1� is less concerned with naming names and more preoccupied with reaping the best from this quality, slow-moving song� fear-cushioning vox warbling heartily out of the room�s dankest corner, your mind�s high-hopening eye. Sincere strings and a Lloyd Cole way with vocals prove that when certain bands are at their slowest and most sullen, only then do they genuinely connect. (STEVE RUDD)