David Karsten Daniels

Such beautiful music, such ugly cover art. Actually, it’s not just ugly but borderline offensive. While the question "why” David Karsten Daniels decided his intricately planned, affecting and layered indie music would be well-represented by a man eating a naked woman’s eviscerated intestines may come completely unanswered, it is time for this review to move on. The art shouldn’t matter to the music and thank god the two are utterly different. The triumphant "Minnows” is where Daniels does his best work, slowly building his rough yet melodic voice around an army of instruments to a lovely climax that reminds of the peaks of Broken Social Scene and their ilk. Yet the juxtaposed "Universe of No Parts” does its job equally as well, but this time it’s just Daniels’ croon and the slightest of accompanying instruments, proving subtlety speaks just as loud as big choruses. While it doesn’t have the twang or roots-y flavour of Rock Plaza Central, the two do have in common large and complicated instrumentation, and an affinity for slow-creeping songs that, once at full power, are like nothing else. Take the advice of the amazing epic closer, "We Go Right On,” and move right on past that horrid cover art and enjoy the incredible sounds within.