On Yarrow (Six Shooter), the first studio album in four years by veteran Canadian folk-rock band Deep Dark Woods, the group continues to pursue singer Ryan Boldt’s harrowing end-time visions, putting a modern spin on murder ballads, apocalyptic natural disasters, and frayed love affairs. At times Boldt's prosaic touch makes the music fall flat, no matter how crisply his bandmates shape the guitar-driven arrangements or how beautifully guest harmony singers Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum (aka Kacy & Clayton) bring richness and variety to his introspective mumbling; his uninspired imagery and tentative delivery on “Deep Flooding Waters” conjure the destructive force of a sun shower.…
On Yarrow (Six Shooter), the first studio album in four years by veteran Canadian folk-rock band Deep Dark Woods, the group continues to pursue singer Ryan Boldt’s harrowing end-time visions, putting a modern spin on murder ballads, apocalyptic natural disasters, and frayed love affairs. At times Boldt's prosaic touch makes the music fall flat, no matter how crisply his bandmates shape the guitar-driven arrangements or how beautifully guest harmony singers Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum (aka Kacy & Clayton) bring richness and variety to his introspective mumbling; his uninspired imagery and tentative delivery on “Deep Flooding Waters” conjure the destructive force of a sun shower.…