Dargan Hester and Sheffer Stephens Reviewed
Dargan Hester – My Half of Forever
Pop music is, and of this I am sure, the most impressive and important modern art form. Everyone loves it, and the moment that you hear something that works, like Proust dipping his madeleine into a cup of tea, you are transported to a place in your life where magic was available, and transcendence was achievable.
And, because of that, most pop music sucks! Yeah, like sellers knowing that we’ll buy nearly anything to satisfy our needs, the pop stars are rarely willing, or capable of giving us the good stuff. This is why, when you hear pop music treated in the way that Dargan Hester does, you have a tendency to stop everything and pay notice.
“My Half of Forever” is a rare entry into the pop canon. It’s a luminous song built on the power of shimmering guitars a la Big Star and mature ideas about growing up and making the best of your time out here on this planet. The duo of Dargan Hester wish to entertain first, but would rather have you chanting the truth as you fall under the song’s spell.
Sheffer Stephens – Wild Country
Eventually, all the honest people just say what’s on their mind without thinking twice about how the rest of the world sees them or whether telling the truth will affect them negatively. And, eventually, all of the best songwriters reduce their songs to just a few chords and the words that they know for certain to be true.
It worked for the likes of Lou Reed or Bob Dylan, songwriting heroes of many who, song by song, album by album, eliminated unnecessary frills from their songs and focused on the essentials. And this is where life and creative endeavours find Sheffer Stephens.
But if Lou Reed, a man with whom Stephens has a few things in common, the vocal delivery in particular, was someone destined to live his whole life in the big city, Stephens is quietly plotting an escape. On “Wild Country,” Stephens takes stock of all the madness around him, of everyone trying to get something up on their fellow man, and dreams of a place where honest souls can live wild and unchanged by the world.
