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"Anyone familiar with the punky swamp-rock of The Scientists or Beasts of Bourbon's garage blues might be surprised to hear Kim Salmon's latest project. The fêted guitarist has joined forces with Ron Peno, singer of defunct feral rock outfit Died Pretty, and together, they've stepped well outside their comfort zones. As The Darling Downs, they've produced a record of spare, tender songcraft, whose delicate shifts in tone make the simple alt.country tag inadequate. A brave move for both, brilliantly pulled off. 4 stars."-Sharon O'Connell, Uncut

"Like the young boy who studied his Superman comics religiously until he convinced himself he could fly - and he did, Peno and Salmon have grasped every essential particle responsible for creating a timeless Americana album and done just so..Impressive and deserving of multiple repeats."--SCTAS.com, Slightly Confusing to a Stranger

The Darling Downs

The Darling Downs stand out as the most unlikely of collaborations between longtime members of the fertile Australian rock scene. While it is not at all insane to imagine the driving force behind The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon, and The Surrealists, Kim Salmon, working with Died Pretty’s energetic frontman and songwriter Ron Peno, the improbable happens when you consider the result that might flow from such a teaming.

What are the odds that these two towering figures of Australian music, famous for swaggering, noisy, swampy punk rock (Salmon) and soaring pop rock (Peno) would concoct such a perfect loveletter to American country folk? 1000-1? Armed only with Kim Salmon’s custom Cole Clark acoustic guitar and Peno’s singular voice and vision, The Darling Downs crafted an almost impossible album: a record of nuanced beauty, a subtle masterpiece that unfolds like a dahlia with each successive spin, giving the listener something new and unexpected at every helping. All from two guys and one pristine guitar.

At times Peno channels the spirit of Appalachian folk’s high lonesome sound, complete with yips, yelps and howls (“In That Jar,” “Let It Breathe”), while elsewhere his (improvised?!) vocals are hypnotically understated, almost delicate--threatening to disappear into thin air before crashing down like thunder (“Loverslain,” “Deep Deep Blue”). Supporting Peno’s acrobatic vocal brilliance is Salmon’s equally understated, elegant guitar playing, perhaps the most restrained of his career, made all the more stunning when you know the fireworks and growl of which he is capable and for which he is famous. From the more traditional strumming on “There’s a Light,” to the fingerpicked sparkle of the opening track “I’ll Be Always There” and “In a Cold Place by a Lake,” augmented by mouth harp and triangle that almost shock when they emerge from the surrounding ambiance, to the near ragas on “Why Did She Leave?” and “Waste My Time,” Salmon showcases not only his versatility but playing of such surprisingly refined grace that it defines the album as one of the best listens of 2006. 

Their 18 months of live shows in Australia have garnered the most glowing reviews possible, with their appearance at the 2005 Harvest Festival, in front of The Handsome Family, stealing the show. Our hope is that American and European audiences will have a chance to have their hearts stolen soon.

download at Fina Music. download at Other Music Digital. download on iTunes. $11 Domestic Shipping   $2.50 International Shipping   $6.00 Handling Charge:   $2.00

"What stays with the listener is a ghostly afterimage that plays on the heart like headlight patterns on a bedroom wall at 3AM, and an inexplicable but not unpleasant sense of yearning and loss. It's a desolate, masterful work by two artists who have nothing to prove, and nothing to lose." - Tony Dale - Ptolemaic Terrascope

“With Salmon often infusing the guitar lines with deft lilts and melodies, grasping each song is sometimes as difficult as interpreting a smoke signal in a storm, the ever-shifting qualities of the music making it difficult to categorize. The experience mesmerizes...” – The Age (AU)

“There are plenty of bands around at the moment paying homage to the proto-country rock sounds of The Band, The Byrds and Gram Parsons; only a trivial amount of them can claim to approach the Darling Downs’ idiosyncratic perspective on the country genre.” - Patrick Emery – Beat magazine

“Anyone who saw those guys that day at Red Hill will tell you greatness was at work.” - Marcus Mulcahy - Harvet Festival

Listen to Real Audio

From How Can I Forget This Heart of Mine? (saki039)
I'll Be Always There
In a Cold Place by a Lake

The Darling Downs Downloads

Circa '65 Somewhere There's a Place Where I'll Be Fine

The Darling Downs's Downloads are available for download at Fina Music, Other Music Digital here, or the iTunes Music Store here.

See Darling Downs Tour Dates

L I N K S

3 live tracks from the East Brunswick Club 2/22/07 show with The Handsome Family via New Found Frequency. Includes 1 new track!

Ptolemaic Terrascope unexpectedly loves this album. Read about it.

Erasing Clouds gets it!

Livejournal.com does too.

Nice words form Justaddnoise.

Dutch reviews from alt.country.nl and kindamuzik.net.

Glittering album review in The Age.

The Age Australian CD release party preview.

Highly entertaining interview with Ron and Kim at the Harvest Festival site.

Awesome interview and career retrospective on Kim Salmon and Darling Downs at I94bar.com

A Kim Salmon discography is here.

Died Pretty discography is here.

Take a look at these live performance images from fasterlouder.com from their show on November 11, 2005.

And also a great live review from fasterlouder.com is here.

For booking information about Darling Downs, please contact Carrot Top Records, Inc.

Publicity provided by the amazing women at:
Green Light Go
Attn: Janelle Rogers
812 Flowerdale St.
Ferndale MI 48220
248-336-9696 (w)
jrogers[at]greenlightgopublicity.com
greenlightgopublicity.com

Australian retailers please contact Groove Merchants.