Deep Dark United

Pushing, stabbing and stroking the outermost limits of popular songwriting, Deep Dark United share their latest eclectic compositions with listeners via this live album, recorded at Toronto’s Tranzac. Nine of these 13 tracks are new, or at least never before released, while the four songs taken from previous album Ancient are vastly reworked. "Nun Or a Bawd” is treated to an extra-unhinged vocal performance from founder Alex Lukashevsky, barking and sputtering his pleas to find love in whatever form he may over heavily improvised arrangements. Virtuosos creatively and technically, DDU make music influenced by multitudinous musical forms. Avant-garde and jazz improvisations flirt with classical and folk melodies, Latin rhythms morph into break-beat grooves and the whole conglomerate is awash in experimental sound collages filtered through loose sensibilities of song structure. It’s likely to fly past the understanding of the average listener but for those delighted by the eternal quest for new approaches to making music, Look At / Look Out is an exhilarating report from the field’s chief explorers.