Des Ark - Don't Rock The Boat, Sink The Fucker

In the years since Des Ark (Philadelphia/North Carolina’s Aimee Argote) released her last full length, Loose Lips Sink Ships, she has given you ample opportunity to see her live. Her travels have carried her across America and Europe over and over, from the dusty DIY spaces she loves so well, to every other setting you might find yourself. In these homes, streets, galleries, and venues, the songs that we now know as the fully formed album Don’t Rock The Boat, Sink the Fucker were coming to life. Slowly. Depending on when and where you crossed paths with Aimee, you may have heard these songs wail and snarl at blistering volumes, played by her and a full band, as a 2-guitar and drum trio, or even just as Aimee and drums. But if you met her on a different day, you heard these songs in a yard or street, whispered and aching, as if they were the only sound happening in the world. On other days, you may have seen something in between. But you heard these songs, and they cut you open.
This album has been finished for a year and kept very secret and safe for most of that year. For those of us who heard these songs live during the wind-up to this release, we have long wondered how the songs would stand, when the curtain finally rose. Would we get our guts cut out by the angular, aggressive version? Would we get the ghostly versions that can kill you just as softly as they set your heart on fire and bring you to life with their honesty and intimacy?
And the answer is yes. And the answer is no.
The songs are all of their versions, in some way. But this album isn’t great just because it’s a combination of different but complimentary versions. It isn’t that simple. The whispering intimate and the snarling aggressive versions of these songs were brilliant. Effective. And until you hear this album, you would pat Aimee on the back or hug her after a show and tell her how they reached you. But the songs are better. And it’s THEIR life, the life of the songs, that shines. It twinkles and howls and breathes.
The clarity of the recording highlights both brilliant guitar and vocal performances. The detail of the vocal dynamics is probably the most critical part of the technical side of this recording. Argote does everything right, that’s not always easy to catch with microphones, but we get to crisply hear it all, whether it’s a shuddering, whispered confession or a soaring declaration of “you will always be my girl”.
Taking years between albums can result in a lot of mixed output, depending on the band and situation. Don’t Rock The Boat, Sink The Fucker reflects the best case, in that all that time was spent making sure that every note and every shift was with purpose, with appropriate weight. The fully-realized songs pay due respect to their former selves, the varied live interpretations, but without trying at all to imitate them. All of the time, care, and consideration has given this album a warm, real life of it’s own, and that life is what makes this a great album. And it is great. Not just good.
Sometime soon, you will get another chance to see Des Ark in person. Don’t cheat yourself out of it. And listen to this album.
Recommended track: ” My saddle is waitin’ ”

Tracklist
1 my saddle is waitin’ (c’mon jump on it)
2 girls get ruff
3 bonne chance, asshole
4 ashley’s song
5 ftw, y’all!!!
6 howard’s hour of shower
7 it’s only a bargain if you want it
8 two hearts are better than one

http://www.myspace.com/desark