Album Review: Voicemails to my Fiancee

There are some albums where the listener feels they are intruding way too much on something which is incredibly private. Back in 1979 Dennis DeYoung had a major argument with the rest of Styx as he felt that even though he had played them Babe it was way too private for it ever to be recorded and made available, but we all know he lost and even though it only made it to #3 here in NZ, it did top the charts in plenty of other countries. I can imagine Darryl having a similar conversation with himself, as this album is exactly what it purports to be in the title, a series of songs he recorded on his phone for his fiancée Briar, who lives in a separate city. Just him and his acoustic guitar, with lyrics which speak of distance, joining, fighting for each other, gaining strength from each other, as they grow as a unit. Both knowing that the other is the missing puzzle piece, they didn’t know they were searching for.

The sound is surprisingly good, and one would think this had come from a studio as opposed to being recorded on a phone, but there is almost a voyeuristic feel in the way he is singing to her, should we really be listening to this? It is like reading a private diary as there is no hiding of Darryl’s feelings for Briar and exactly what she means to him. While the recording may be good quality, musically this is quite lo-fi with Darryl picking his acoustic and singing in a style which is more about conveying the emotion and words than necessarily being polished and refined. He is putting his heart out there for everyone to see, and Briar must have been taken aback by the outpouring of his feelings for her, but I cannot believe she ever imagined there would be an album at the end of it.

Long distance relationships are hard, and although my wife and I spent most of our first year together, the next three saw me 170 miles away, and it is tough going to keep the relationship alive (we’ve been together 33 now). Darryl has certainly come up with a novel approach firstly by sending her songs and then pulling together this album which is all about his feelings. One for the romantics out there (I sincerely hope you two are close together soon).