I Love You But I 've Choosen Darkness

It was August 22, 2011. A short message fell in our inbox: after years of pursuing a shadow into obscure corners, we finally received a lifesign from I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness. It was just a few words to keep the hope alive. Then, a discussion barely begun and already vanished in an unilateral silence. Messages in our bad English followed, to explain how Fear Is On Your Side has accompanied us in important moments, to explain that this Texan band enthrones in our personal Pantheon. Almost two years later, the big news fell : an album was ready, or almost. It only remained to finalize the mix and to consider ways of release in a form of transatlantic cooperation. The long wait was over. The album should only be released as a vinyl LP (and digital), wearing logos from Secretly Canadian (for America), and Monopsone for Europe. That seems unlikely, so the wait was long since 2006 and their first album acclaimed everywhere. One wonders how these five guys spent these last 8 years.

However, these tormented but so touching people thought to record "quickly a second album completely different." That brings us back to the only reliable certitudes : we can find an intact faith in what they express about the sincerity of the imperative need to do what they do, far from material contingencies, methods and calculations. This intransigence, so anachronistic nowadays where cynicism prevails, is expressed through these inhabited compositions, always poignant, carried by a dark romanticism. If Faust, recalls the straightness of According To Plan, and Walk Out proves the pugnacity of the forties, the quartet also reveals a raw nakedness.

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness exhorts his moods, because time is short and it is no longer possible to releave themselves other than unvarnished. Anyway, these tensed songs do not tolerate unnecessary arrangements or artificial emphasis. Their music is honest, but never stiff; affected, but not whining; sincere, but never fake. This does not prevent these seasoned musicians to keep this class, this elegance that makes this band a bit more fascinating. Minimal artwork, accuracy of tone, dignity even in abandonment: the new wave style fits so well these 10 songs that evocate the foggy landscapes of Twin peaks (the misty Safety, fatalistic You Are Dead To me) as well as a burning storm (The Suns Burns Out, a summit of heroism to be listened to infinitely). It was high time for I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness to be back into the light.