Billing themselves quite starkly as ‘a psychedelic post-punk group from Bristol’ Candy Darling are a relatively new name to me. Yet their front lady isn’t, I witnessed Emily Breeze back in the mists of time at one of the much missed Peppermint Patti shows at Cardiff’s Chapter arts, an elegant and poised live performer her 50s flecked noirsih country blues was a pleasure to behold. Now she remerges helming one of the most exciting new groups I’ve clapped ears upon this year.
The bashing beats and anti materialism howls of ‘Money’ is sublime, scampering down the cities dark underbelly: a clash between urgent literate scowl of Patti Smith and the fractured lacerating post punk of Suicide, the biting repeated refrain ‘Success! Money’ spat like a dirty word. ‘Temples’ meanwhile, is a masterful slab of sensuous rock n roll, that see’s Emily’s tragic wrapped vocals swoop through imagery that depicts the death of organised religion with a grace and venom that knocks the derivative Savages into a warm grave..
Yet all of these description are quite frankly inadequate, so seething with sexual glamour, psychodrama and spite are the two songs that Candy Darling have unleashed upon the public so far quite frankly we are listening to the fruits of years of toil put into honing these sleek beasts. And have us declaring Candy Darling simply an unmissable feature to behold.
