A digital copy Darlings‘ debut LP Yeah I Know found its way to me right around its release in 2009, and I quickly became a devout fan. So much so, that until this year, the only physical release to escape my clutches was that album. Everything else had been released on vinyl.
For its 10-year anniversary, and a few years after the band called it quits, Famous Class Records reissued it as a highly limited 150-copy release on hand-poured colored wax. You read that right. Hand-poured, meaning each copy is relatively unique.
Sold out on Famous Class, you can snag a copy on Discogs for a pretty penny.
The Cover Art of Yeah I Know by Darlings
In our interview of Darlings back at the end of 2009, Gumshoe Grant asked the band about the album’s packaging. They gave us insight into selecting old family photos of their parents that resonated with the album’s music.
The accompanying booklet insert features matching black-and-white photos with song title overlays. In fact, the cover itself is said to be Peter’s father’s band from Moscow circa the 1970s.
Packaging like that of Yeah I Know is what makes record collecting special. It’s an added physical element you don’t get with today’s trend of digital music.
A Look at Yeah I Know, 10 Years Later
Back then, I emphasized the garage characteristics of Yeah I Know. Today, I hear those elements, but they’re much more subtle than I thought back then.
These days, I can’t get over the upbeat and poppy nature of songs like “Eviction Party” and “Teenage Girl“. Check out the official video for “Teenage Girl” below. It’s telltale indie pop to the max.
This indie pop sound spans the full album; Darlings never fails to give us a catchy, upbeat hook. “Eviction Party” is playful and reminiscent of your typical carefree nature of early-20s college town students. Here’s opening track, “TV”:
Album closer “If This is Love” takes the garage traits Darlings employs to a new level while retaining the fun indie pop found throughout the rest of the album. If this is love, I’m over it., sings Peter Rynsky. It’s an ode to giving up on love, and being totally OK with that decision.
Yeah I Know, 10 years later, takes me back to my early 20s. Back in 2009, it had a nostalgic quality to it that reminded me of my college years. In 2019, that reminiscence has only gotten stronger.
Maybe it stems from me maturing over the past decade. Or maybe I just long for the seemingly simplified life of an early-20-something college student, still green to the adult world and filled with a pseudo-carefree nature.