Welcome to this week’s Launch Box featuring
Dani Bell & The Tarantist
Members: Dani Bell, Alfred Howard, Charlie The Boombox
Dark West, the debut album from San Diego band Dani Bell & The Tarantist, captures a vibe that jaunts seamlessly across genres. Influences include Mazzy Star, Timber Timbre, the Shangri-Las and the Zombies.
There’s a driving haunt at the center of the album. A painted scene where escape, loss and longing travel down long hallways and ripple out in rings from the core of a curious voice. Dark West is a sonic journey where the light at the end of the tunnel is not quite as important as the tunnel itself.
(not sure if it’s intentional, but I get a Clockwork Orange vibe from their wardrobe)
Dani Bell composed the songs of Dark West on guitar, bass and keys and is joined by the All-Stars of The Redwoods Music Collective to make an album that’s at once cinematic in scope, eclectic in sound and focused in its vision. Dani Bell sighs over every genre.
Moving from the spooky diner blues of Crave
to the soulful Motown strut of Nightfall
to the whispers of mournful melodies over the ethereal atmosphere of Hired Hands
Don’t You Stay Gone garnered multiple listens as well
Still can’t get this Portugal.The Man cover out of my head (and I’m ok with that)