Vinyl, LP, Album

A certain alchemy has helped to establish the unique force found on the debut album: four women, one man; four Canadians and an American; musical collaborations stretching back to nascent high school years; punk exuberance meeting studio finesse. Darlene exudes an easy confidence in combining the raw, blunt power of the bands writing and arrangements with Turnbull & Chahley's layered and, at times, elaborate production. The concise blast of their self-titled debut seeks to compress, absorb and invert the energy of classic rock. They profane, as much as pay tribute to a lineage of foundational bands, arguably stemming from Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper through Thin Lizzy, and on through the boy's club fantasy of early 2000's, 'raw' rock revival bands, like The Strokes or The Hives. Gauche rock moves are ransacked and transformed with the glee of an amateur cast production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. All of this unfolds in less than half an hour, leaving time for a detour into the sublime with album centrepiece, Strawberry Milk, an interstellar power ballad turned meditation on Eve, and the confrontation between sex and eternity.

With their glammed-up, high intensity live show featuring all members contributing vocals (save drummer TB), Darlene Shrugg seems not to rebut so much as disregard the notion of Rock's diminished cultural capital. Their diverse brand of hard rock resists genre pigeon-holing. They fan out an array of stylistic threads, which they might later choose to follow up, or perhaps just as likely, skip past. They've laid waste to the Toronto underground. Now, they're hungry for more.

1 Inherit The Wind 4:23
2 First World Blues 3:05
3 Wah Wah 3:06
4 Strawberry Milk 4:54
5 Technicolour Surround 1:51
6 National Security 1:22
7 Pete Rose Boogie 2:57
8 Where's Your Brother? 3:39
9 Freedom Comes In A Plastic Card 3:47