Five years after releasing her Home to Me EP, acclaimed Nashville singer-songwriter – and Grand Ole Opry regular – Sarah Darling has created a much-anticipated, hopelessly-romantic, dreamy full-length album titled Dream Country. The new album is available February 10, and was produced by Nashville multi-instrumentalist and music extraordinaire Larissa Maestro. The project exists thanks to an overwhelming response to Darling’s own crowd-funded campaign. Dream Country showcases Darling’s spellbinding capability as a songwriter, as she paints pictures and delivers musical stories with a soft soothing voice that cuts like butter.
As a native of small-town rural Iowa, Darling knows a thing or two about gazing at a clear night sky and dreaming about a world far beyond one’s current surroundings. The first track off Dream Country is “Halley’s Comet,” one of the seven songs on the 10-track album that Darling either wrote solo or co-wrote, and is clearly autobiographical. Falling in line with the dreamlike theme are “Wandering Star,” “Where Cowboys Ride,” and “Starry Eyes,” the latter of which is a letter to one’s younger self with lyrics like: “Don’t lose sight even when you feel like falling apart.” The psychedelic star-trip instrumentals and vocal stylings of “Star Gazer” continue the theme, and the lyrics nod to coming-of-age, taking chances, and realizing one’s full potential.
In addition to these songs, Darling showcases great range in her stylings, from the rocking “Tell That Devil” to the smooth, jazzy “You Take Me All the Way,” a tune reminiscent of the Cole Porter classic “I Get a Kick out of You.” She also shows her hopeless romantic side with “Anchor” and “Montmartre,” a song about her personal love affair with all things French.
Finally, proving that she cannot be boxed into a specific genre, the cover of British rock band the Smiths’ “Please Please Please (Let Me Get What I Want This Time)” is an intense pleading, which Darling manages to deliver with sweetness and grace. Overall, Dream Country is a sparkling trip around the world (and universe), and pairs well with a glass of red wine and candles. The album is best heard in a place where you can sit back, relax, let Darling’s soothing vocals flow over you, and truly appreciate the depth of her lyrics.
Find Darling’s upcoming tour dates here, including a handful of U.S. shows before she heads overseas.