Dargz - Happiness (Album)

It took me ages to recall what a number of Dargz’s tunes remind me of - Lemon Jelly!! To all you folks too young to remember, they were an early 2000’s chilled hip-hop/breaks duo with a penchant for the slightly weird. They did a song about ducks. Anyway, that’s not who we’re here to talk about and I’m not saying this album is weird or that it talks about ducks but there is a similarity in the ethereal funkiness and the way they sound like layered and looped samples, especially in ‘Lou’s Tune’ and ‘Nobody’...and ‘The Duke’.

You may have already heard some singles dropped from this album because they have all been released on Spotify. In ‘Annie’s Tune’ Charley Stacey provides some very tasty piano for your aural pleasure. ‘Love will take me higher’ sees really nice sampling a la Kanye and rapping from K.I.N.E.T.I.C and ‘Hold On pt.2’ is catchy and groovy. Oh yeah? Who brings the groove you might ask? That would be Mercury Award nominated drummer Moses Boyd. ‘Freedom of choosing’ has some really strong soul vocals, some bow-chika-wow-wow guitar nestled in the background. Could we say it has a bit of Groove Armada about it? Yes, I think we reasonably could. ‘Dough’ makes you wonder whether he snuck Anderson .Paak on there. I’m pretty sure no one can afford to sample Anderson .Paak can they? For me, this track absolutely bangs. I don't know who's rapping on this but I love that too.

This album is a really nice mix of styles and genres. At times jazzy, at times full of funk, at times pure hip-hop, sometimes soul. 100% no ducks.

Words: Kate Vice