Darker My Love are a quintet sits in the cosmic chaparral on the astro chart of rock and roll. One notch to left is The Meters (you can feel this band in your fifth house). One notch to the right is a gathering of Wild Angels (the back of your skull is thrust into the headrest from the start). You want to reference all kinds of other bands, scenes, moments when talking DML. Go right ahead. But be sure you plot a steady course. Don’t talk about shimmering guitars and fuzz boxes or psychedelic nonsense. It’s too late for all that. Irony is dead. There’s a siren screaming. Can you hear it? If you set out with that manual, trying to find the path of this band, make sure your checklist contains notes on the tribal vehemence of a kick drum pattern, the alluring purr of a violently overdriven Gibson bass, the manic concoction of black groove and hard white rock… and when you come upon that bridge deep in the forest you’d be correct to assume it bridges The Weeds and the Stone Roses. And if you cross it in either direction, it will take you to a new spot on the map, the soundtrack to which is the topic of this writing. And, lastly, please, by all means, make sure you correctly spell ‘clavinet’ and ‘Bernie Worrell.’