A documentary on Ireland's infamous home for "wayward women," The Magdalene Laundry, inspired
Diana Darby to write this set of songs. Singing in a fragile, whispery voice, and accompanying herself basically on just a softly played guitar,
Darby expresses the emotional and psychological toll that living in harsh, prison-like conditions to do to a person. That she made this spare, disquieting album on her own at home on a four-track cassette recording is all too appropriate as the simple recording methods enhances the songs' feeling of haunting intimacy. Typical of
Darby's songs of death, hopelessness, and isolation are numbers like "No Leaving Now," which asserts that "You can say you're fine...but it's all a lie/And there's no leaving now," and "Black Swan," which uses the title creature to contemplate other-ness and the feeling of not belonging. Other songs also leave an indelible impression. With its skittering violin and in-and-out-of-tune guitar playing, "The Murder" achieves a genuine sense of eeriness. The muted chimes of "Let Your Run Free" could easily translate into a more sped-up
Byrds-like folk-rock version, but that would sugarcoat the story of a girl who "can't survive in your world" -- and
Darby isn't interested in sugarcoating anything on this disc. A title like "Pretty Flower" suggests a respite from gloom, but
Darby's sorrowful, deliberate singing turns these "pretty flowers" into something unsettling, but also rather captivating.
Darby does offer up a glint of optimism in the delicately austere "I'm Wishing You Bluebirds." Yet she doesn't end the album with this slightly hopeful song, but instead with "Maryanne," a brief, dark tale about a mother who kills her infant son. The disc's short length (under 33 minutes) works to its advantage. If the album went on any longer, the music's unrelenting grimness would be too much to take. The songs' bleak beauty brings the listener up to an abyss, but doesn't go all the way and lead to a suicidal plunge. ~ Michael Berick