After 20+ years of writing about music, I thought I’d heard everything with respect to the theme and inspiration for a new album. But when I got the write-up for Philadelphian Marc Silver’s 9th album, The Dark Of Our Hymn, and the lede was his exploration of mortality, that got my curiosity up. Turns out the reference was to things marking the span of life, not the end of it. Utilizing pieces of everything from jazz to bluegrass to art rock it’s a stimulating, if occasionally brooding, perspective on humanity.
Although most of the songs on the record are rooted in a particular moment or idea from Silver, many are then expanded to have a wider reference. Lily White, for example, started with memories of a childhood sweetheart and the innocence borne of idyllic surroundings before we grow up and become jaded. Sullivan Ballou features the guitar and piano interplay that’s a delightful recurrence throughout the record. It’s the story of a Civil War soldier’s letter home, pining for his wife’s love but knowing he may have to sacrifice it for his ideals. Swinging Branches has an ethereal, but heavy, quality in a tale about gay love that ends in tragedy.
Other songs are less rooted in actual events and follow a more imagined storyline. I Knew I’d Make You Mine is a pop folk number, with fiddle lending a touch of country, about the certainty of a love at first sight having “never felt the tender touch of another soul.” Skeleton Wings is more of a singer-songwriter presentation where “all your lies are a shallow way to disguise the love you hide away.” Veiled, like many cuts, highlights some sweet, jazzy piano, this time in a nod to finding love, phoenix-like, after releasing ashes, like butterflies into the wind. Perhaps the most bittersweet track is When That Time Is Here And Now, a duet with Sarah Long about the tender realizations that some of characteristics of your parents growing old have become your own.
Using his experience with both literary and cinematic framing, Marc Silver has drawn musical portraits of key moments in particular people’s lives. Although frequently touched by tragedy, the stories they tell are far more uplifting. Scored with a soundtrack of jazzy Americana, The Dark Of Our Hymn is both beautiful and mystical, and a rewarding way to expand your musical mindset.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.