Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Those Darlins

  • Screws Get Loose [Oh Wow Dang, 2011] A-
  • Blur the Line [Ow Wow Dang, 2013]  

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Screws Get Loose [Oh Wow Dang, 2011]
What pushes this Nashville cowgrrlcore trio past the cutesy two-steps and over-the-hills strums of their brief professional yore is the male drummer who turned them into a quartet. But I bet the Casio that marks track one as not-country was their idea--and that, actually, so was the drummer. Because this album's great leap forward is hooky, saucy, punky songwriting in a mood somewhere between Be Your Own Pet and the Donnas, only savvier: "Be Your Bro," which may not sum up their platonic feelings for that drummer but could, or "Hives," proving they do too get the itch, or "Boy," in which love on the road needn't be permanent to be nice. They have mouths on them, yes they do. But their mouths are connected to their hearts and minds, and amped by loud guitars. A-

Blur the Line [Ow Wow Dang, 2013]
[2013 Dean's List: 55]  

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