Daphne Loves Derby – music for pansies. Having put out yet another record – is this their third full length? – I’ve failed to have been knocked out at any point along the way. ‘Good Night, Witness Light’ is more of the same mediocore emo pop the band have become famed for; they’re just peddling the same pap as everyone else, yet are miles away from the quality bands in the genre like Cartel.
This record could best be summed up as ‘nice’. I mean no-one likes the word ‘nice’ – it’s the epitome of bland, boring and safe. And that nicely sums up DLD, sadly for them. The whispery vocals lack a spark and a passion, and the guitars just drift along in the background. When you expect the band to reach a crescendo on a chorus it never comes – it’s just decent background music and little else. And Hell, the sun is shining outside and I still can’t get excited by this at all. It’s a genre of music I quite like, but it makes Sherwood look genre defying. And they’re about as nice as this bunch too.
Fans of the genre might get a little mileage out of Daphne Loves Derby, but for me it’s about as fun as a flat tyre.