It’s worth it! But it’s certainly a risk that the artist takes when they present themselves to the world as who they really are. “Who wants that when the world wants superheroes?” The voice inside their head might work to rattle them. But if they hang on, the rewards may be sensational.
“Authenticity” is not a word that’s often heard in discussions about global pop stars. But it was, until recently, a vital component. Sure, punks and grunge musicians created a standard, but that made fans of pop music expect the same from their favourites. Darker Lighter, the project of Los Angeles-based songwriter Salar Rajabnik, is designed to present the artist through exciting pop-rock songs, but just as he is.
This means that while the songs found on the self-titled, “Darker Lighter,” album are catchy and occasionally exuberant, they also sit in the friendly, pleasant guitar pop territory that not many dare explore anymore.
Rajabnik’s not intimidated and hardly ever flinches. Take the opening track, “Hanging On,” a melancholy-tinged pop song that’s so well produced that you’d think it was recorded back in the 1990s when allowances for such albums were plentiful.
In fact, highly budgeted or not, the “Darker Lighter” record sounds smooth, carefully designed the whole way through. Indie-rock-styled guitars are splashed across dynamic-sounding drums on “Someday Soon.” And the darkly psychedelic “Nothing’s Ever Gonna Be The Same Again”, a song that brings to mind bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, is captured in pristine form.
Darker Lighter isn’t just looking to trick depressed rock fans into joining a pity party. There are plenty of those bands out there already. But Rajabnik is also too honest to disguise his true feelings when penning a song. There’s an air of melancholy that hovers around most of them. And while Rajabnik’s not at the end of his rope, he will admit to scrambling for a way forward.
The moody “Shadow Of A Doubt” is a song about old regrets and lingering hopes. The Oasis-like “Be” is a tune about mustering the strength to get out of your own way. And, the power ballad “Like Birds Fly Away” is written for everyone who’s sped all the way up a dead-end street.
Things come and go. Trends move in cycles. But you can bet that you’re never too far away from a song that’s been written on a guitar and that will change the lives of millions. This is the position that Rajabnik’s applying for with “Darker Lighter.”
Where does it all leave us? With 12 well-crafted, sometimes moody, other times hopeful pop-rock songs about finding yourself lost and being forced to find your way through.
