The Duhks Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
In a fast-paced world, hipster string bands can't afford to get into a rut. There is no hipper string band than the Duhks, and for their fourth album they have, in their own words, "invented a new sound." It's not a completely original sound, but it's new for them, and originality in pop music is overrated anyway. What we get on Fast Paced World is a bracing mixture of blues, rock, hot jazz, Celtic, gypsy, Latin, and pop styles, all delivered with an exhilarating blend of skillful tightness and wild emotional abandon. Lead singer Sarah Dugas (who joined the band in 2007) brings an extra-dark flavor to the Duhks' sound, delivering songs like the torchy "This Fall" and a bluesy, barn-burning rendition of the hurricane ballad "Mighty Storm" in a sweetly gritty roar. Elsewhere the band delves into straight-up rock & roll (on the deftly rocking but lyrically facile title track) and Brazilian pop (on the brilliant "Magalenha"), and Dugas indulges her French skills to no apparent purpose on "Toujours Vouloir." (It made musical sense to sing "Magalenha" in Portuguese, but "Toujours Vouloir" comes across as mere showing-off.) When the band returns to its trad roots, the results are no less fiery and impressive: the reel set "New Rigged Ship" is one of the album's many high points. Someday the Duhks may find their natural style and settle into it, and when they do, their albums will become much less interesting. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Duhks kick off 2006's Migration with the spunky, jazzed up "(Mama Gonna Bargain with The) Ol' Cook Pot." The song sounds like something the Manhattan Transfer might have recorded had it been a jug band, and captures an easygoing, good-time vibe. This easygoing, good-time vibe, in fact, says a lot about the band. Like Nickel Creek, the Duhks are young and hip, they play and sing well and seem intent on crossing older folk stylings with new ones. One imagines the music -- if a category is needed -- might be called neo-neo-folk, or cool folk by hip young folks. Unlike Nickel Creek, the Duhks are less about innovation than finding the right sound. That sound circles around singer Jessica Havey's buoyant, breathy (with a touch of soul) lead vocals. The production has a professional sheen to it, and Migration, no matter how much the group shuffles the acoustic arrangements, has a similar upscale sound. Because of this approach, the Duhks often remind one more of professional performers than propagators of roots music. On their version of Tracy Chapman's "Mountains O' Things," for instance, the song is simply too pretty to call much attention to the anti-materialism of the lyric. In this sense, the Duhks remind one of folk-pop groups like the Waifs, turning the pathos of an old spiritual like "Turtle Dove" into a happy folk song. Migration, then, is an exuberant contemporary folk album that will remind listeners of folk's happier side. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Duhks debut self-titled album for Sugar Hill takes a similar progressive approach to bluegrass and folk as their album's producer, Béla Fleck, although the band is a bit more organic than Fleck. The first noticeable twist on the genre is their percussionist, Scott "Señor" Senior, who is unafraid to propel the band with hints of Latin and rock rhythms. As the album shapes itself, however, it becomes clear that each member of the quintet has the talent to deftly explore many different areas of traditional and contemporary folk. From the subset of traditional Celtic reels that make up "Gene's Machine" to their cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows," the Duhks constantly reach out to the same territory as contemporaries Nickel Creek and the Mammals, although with a bit more of a schizophrenic edge than either. The Duhks even give a nod to the Mammals providing a nice justice to Ruthie Ungar's "Blue." ~ Gregory McIntosh, All Music Guide
'Your Daughters and Your Sons'
Release Date 1/1/2002
Tracks 12
Label Sugar Hill
See Album Tracklist and Review
