Darling Please. Chris Church

At some point in life comes a moment of realisation that time has flown. One example is listening to 'Mixed Emotions' by The Rolling Stones on the radio today and realising how old the single is, that it was the band's comeback single and knowing exactly where I heard it for the first time (in Washington D.C. in a pub in 1989). Another example is listening to Darling Please, Chris Church's new album and realising that it reminds me of albums that I appreciated during my third wind in music appreciation, including bands like Buffalo Tom. The fact that I bought my first Buffalo Tom album in 1992 is confrontational. With these confrontational observations off my chest, let's return to Darling Please.

Who is Chris Church? To me he is a totally new name, releasing this record on the Big Stir label. 

Musically Church fully presents music from the past. His rock is mildly alternative, loud but unobtrusive, to experienced ears that is, slightly melancholic, a little dark. His music is not to sing along to loudly. His music is not for dancing, slowly swaying will do the trick for you. Listening is enough and Darling Please offers the kind of songs that will allow you to do just that.

Press photo

Electric guitars lay the foundation for all his songs. Underneath this thick layer of guitars you will find the bass and drums. Struggling to be heard is a slide guitar and some melody lines are part of the massive sound. My mind tells me there is a piano as well but my ears seem not to be able to confirm it. I can't explain it in another way. With a darkish voice Chris Church sings over this thick-layered music, without elevating his voice above the songs. It creates a dark vibe that does not easily let light in. "The air was getting thicker", he sings at right this moment in 'Bad Summer', where his voice does rise, somewhat, above the music, and sings a great chorus in a duet with Lindsay Murray. 'Bad Summer' is the poppiest song so far on Darling Please.

It's the variation that makes this album work. Chris Church managed to create a very consistent album where the songs get all the attention. He does not let his listeners down here for a second. He shows his love for the 90s alternative rock era, with hints at 1980s REM and Dinosaur Jr. in there and manages to add to this huge and impressive body of work his own album that deserves to be heard. Not the worst compliment to receive. Darling Please may rock only mildly, it does rock and some more as well.

Having written what I wanted to write without being influenced by any upfront information, I read the bio and learned a special story coming with Darling Please. Chris Church recorded the album all by himself after his brother passed away, in 2011. Not satisfied with the result he shelved it, after an initial release of just 50 copies. Do we hear the same record? No, the happy few who have a copy, have something unique. For this release Lindsay Murray's, Gretchen's Wheel), vocals were added (she's also responsible for the artwork) after which Nick Burtling remixed the original recording and created an album that, as I wrote, still sounds muddied but most alive. It all results in a gift the world has received in 2022 that was almost lost to it.

Wout de Natris