Dark Dark Dark

“It’s been a really great year,” Dark Dark Dark banjoist Marshall LaCount announced towards the beginning of their set at the Cedar Cultural Center Saturday night. LaCount went on to say that it was also great to be home, an understandable sentiment considering the band had been on tour in Europe and the U.S. since before Halloween and spent a good chunk of 2008 on the road.

And that time spent on the road really shows in their performance. In October they released a full-length album, The Snow Magic. The album was produced by Robert Skoro and was the first release for Supply And Demand Music.

Dark Dark Dark, who hail from both Minneapolis and New York, are Nona Marie Invie (accordion and vocals), Marshall LaCount (banjo), Jonathan Kaiser (cello) and Todd Chandler (stand up bass). They play haunting, dreamy and dark eastern-European sounding music with influences from the cabaret and folk traditions.

One of the first things that strikes you about the band live is their earnestness. There are similar-sounding groups that go for over-the-top antics and are as much a barroom brawl at times as they are a band. Though the inevitable dark carnival atmosphere pervades Dark Dark Dark’s music on disc, watching them live is as enchanting watching a classical string quartet. Perhaps the pin-drop quietness of the sold-out Cedar during songs contributed to that feeling. But it’s also there in the tone the band purveys from the lush warmth of the cello and bass flanking LaCount and Invie. This band is deadly serious about their music and it shows.

“We’re the least rock and roll band we’ve encountered on the road” LaCount said later in the show, pointing out that they can actually be a little shy, especially in their own hometown. The Cedar crowd showed their love for the band and their Twin Cities shout out, rising into a slight cheer when they sang the line, “It’s too bad there’s no ocean in Minneapolis” from the song “Colors” which appears on their new disc.

Saturday the band was not joined on stage by Martin Dosh who contributed drums to the album, but they were joined by friend John Davis on bass clarinet.

Dark Dark Dark goes back out on tour after the first of the year with a show at CBGB in St. Louis. LaCount also talked a little bit about a movie Todd Chandler has been working on in NYC that may surface within the year. (Watch the teaser here.)