The Sydneysider returns after couchsurfing the world to deliver another gem of downhome ditties with a wealth of witty wordplay and sweet feeling. 2ser Subscribers can win a copy all week on Breakfast, Overdrive and Static.
After a couple of years couch surfing, house sitting and soul searching across the world, Gympie’s own Darren Hanlon has emerged with his fourth studio album, I Will Love You At All. Written in a variety of exotic locations from Paris to Coonabarabran, it seems travel has made Darren’s heart grow wistful, and the result is an album of gentle longing and reminiscence.
Darren’s trademark wit and wordplay, which feature prominently on his breakthrough album Fingertips and Mountaintops, are ever present on I Will Love You At All. But this time around, the more understated settings of songs match a new kind of directness in his lyricism, honing his craft into a more homely affair.
As always, Darren’s eye for life’s smaller details are played out with charm and joyful abandon. From the light-fingered bounce of ‘Butterfly Bones’ to the evocative and plaintive ‘Modern History’, these songs mainline to the heart. There’s Darren’s first stab at an epic - ‘House’ clocks in at 7.39 minutes - and his most down-home country shuffle yet, ‘If Only My Heart Were Made Of Stone’, followed by the haunting closer of ‘What Can We Say?’. At each intimate turn, it’s an album rich in open spirit.
I Will Love You At All was recorded at Type Foundry in Portland, Oregon by Adam Selzer (M Ward, She & Him, The Decemberists). Featuring Rachel Blumberg (Bright Eyes, M Ward, She & Him, The Decemberists) on drums – along with three additional drummers – the record also features long time collaborator Cory Gray on keys. Reinforcing the album’s sweet nature are the twin female vocals of Shelley Short and Alia Farah.
Now in his tenth year as a solo artist, Darren (an easily distracted pinball/crossword addict) calls this his ‘mature’ album. That’s one way of putting it. Whichever way you look at it, I Will Love You At All is indeed further ripening of this uniquely revealing songwriter.
With an EP, four studio albums, and a CD collection’s worth of B-sides and rarities to his name, Darren has built a loyal fan base. Selling in excess of 35,000 records, he has toured with Billy Bragg, Violent Femmes, and Evan Dando, and completed five tours at home and abroad with his friends The Magnetic Fields. Darren is also responsible for bringing Jeffrey Lewis, David Dondero and Jens Lekman to Australia for their first visits in support of his own sold out shows.
“Here is a man who loves words, not just the sound of his own voice. And he makes those words into stories that seem like conversations you've walked in on or lives you have lived, unaware that someone was watching while you did it”
- Bernard Zuel - Sydney Morning Herald
