Darren Sullivan has music running through his blood. According to the artist “His grandfather was the infamous Van Alexander who worked with Ella Fitzgerald and the movers and shakers of music for the Greatest Generation.” Sullivan released Lasses Birgitta back in 2021 which is a nine-song album that lasts around thirty-three minutes.
I wasn’t sure what Lasses Birgitta meant so I looked it up. Apparently “Lasses Birgitta was an alleged Swedish witch. She was the first woman executed for sorcery in Sweden.” I’m not sure if the whole album revolves around this concept but it was at least cool to learn something new.
The music is primarily rock based and often has darker shades. It sounded a lot like how the album cover looks. The album gets going with the title track ‘Lasses Birgitta.” This was one of my favorite songs. It comes out of the gates with a good amount of energy with the bass and drums providing the drive and distant guitars providing some atmosphere. The vocals are smooth and I liked the hook. There’s also a killer guitar solo in there as well. It’s a very strong opener.
“The Garden Song” is another good one. The song contains some great vocal work from Sullivan. On the verse it’s fairly minimal with bass and drums providing foundation. The song builds with guitar and an occasional synth that adds some more complexity to the mix.
I loved the beat on “Dream #50” I’m not entirely sure if it was manipulated guitar or synths but everything here has a symbiotic relationship. It sounded like one moving organism. The vocals are again quite catchy and haunting. There’s another guitar solo as well.
“Let Them Eat Cake” contains a really cool sounding drum beat and is a fast song in general. This song had more of an “indie rock” feel to it. It’s dynamic and once the chorus hits I felt the song was more joyful sounding than anything else that I heard so far. There’s also a very cool instrumental section around the two -minute mark.
We get into a ’70s fuzzy classic rock aesthetic with both “The Bad Liar” and “Dad Rock.” I have to say “Dad Rock” was a catchy tune. Sullivan gets a killer guitar sound on this song. One of the more unique songs was “Witches’ Brew.” There are so many different elements here. It starts with what sounds like an eastern instrument. In fact the song has this psychedelic quality at first. The song goes into a number of different directions almost all of which had some novel surprises. It’s experimental but still really accessible which I think is a winning combination.
Sullivan has more success with “Hermitage” where he continues to explore different unconventional structures and crosses genres. Last up is “Faded Bro” which has a slick sounding groove. It’s a little funky but also contains a dark quality to it.
I thought this was a great album. It looks like Sullivan has released a couple of albums after this so will be checking those out as well.
Heather Savage
