Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling – Questions Are A Burden To Others (2011)


Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling
Questions Are A Burden To Others
2011

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is a duo made up of Sophia Cacciola on drums and vocals (usually) and Michael J. Epstein on bass (usually). Their songs are based on the ’60s British sci-fi spy series The Prisoner. Weird, right? It kind of is, but it’s also rather intriguing.

First of all, the bass rarely sounds like a bass. It’s so processed and distorted that it sounds like some kind of weird guitar/organ/bass hybrid from the retro future. The complex nature of the bass sound helps minimize the novelty of their unusual instrumentation. As for minimizing the novelty of lyrics based on The Prisoner, well, uhhh… how much do you really know about The Prisoner, anyway? If you don’t know much about the Patrick McGoohan drama (thanks Wikipedia), then it won’t seem like a gimmick. I would imagine if you knew a lot about The Prisoner it would be just plain awesome.

As for the music, it is guttural. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling are desperate. They are dark. Tick tick tick tick-tock. The tension builds. The juxtaposition of sparse instrumentation and dense sound is powerful. Their urgency is alarming. Tick tick tick tick-stop.

I think I need to check out The Prisoner.

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