Inexplicably dominant, “Darkest Hour” from DawgGone Davis featuring Chago G Williams, triumphs over haters in this latest release from the Kansas City artist. DawgGone Davis, also known as Rebecca, constructs a multi-genre track. This latest release, a follow-up to April’s “Weight of the World”, continues DawgGone’s streak for most interesting releases this year.
Sounding like she’s willing to portray herself with a sense of humor, the first word in “Darkest Hour” is ha. DawgGone then goes on to start her tale, wallowing through the words with a disfluency. Between her lyrics are swell beats. It’s like a cobalt blue feel. The fluidity in the music bed adds to the emphasis in her voice – one that is both full of character and devoid of anger. She bends through the music bed, that bass beat really falling under her lyrics. Her style is slow, she raps like she has all the time in the world. It almost gives the song a pop or even spoken word experience. The line how can she be so sweet and sound so sour? It call comes down to the darkest hour, had me a bit perplexed. At first. I believe what she’s saying is that on the outside she appears to have it all put together; she’s always smiling and ‘on’. But on the inside, she’s like everyone else, and what is happening in her environment or in the news, affects her disposition. She’s hurting, too.
Feeling sorry for myself, been a long slide down to this stricken hour, she bounces. Again, she’s laying pebbles down to create an overall pathway to releasing her insecurities and admonishments. A slashing electric guitar, courtesy of Romain Duchein. His flammable instrumentation is rocking! Suddenly the song sounds completely different. It changes forces and directions again each time rapper Williams takes the mic. His voice is baritone, macho. He slides through the song like a knife to butter. When he flows it’s like a waging war, stuck in the darkest hour, with no lights at all, who cares if we fail, I took it as humankind has to fend for themselves. We have to be there for each other. In the lens of 2020, this could certainly be a completely different intent. I’d like to ask him that, but my personal conviction is that he could possibly be talking about class strife or race relations. It’s hard to say – it was a bit out of the zone that DawgGone Davis had been forging. Williams’ attitude is admirable. I think his role in this track played out perfectly. It was hard to decide if he dominated the song more, or if DawgGone Davis’ actions did.
Overall, “Darkest Hour” is hard to ignore. It occupied my ears for many hours after my first listen. I definitely took to heart DawgGone Davis’ particular tale. She is quite the storyteller and brings to light many emotions. This song also has a reference to avocados in the first few minutes. There’s that. That has to count for something.
Jodi Marxbury
The music of DAWGGONE DAVIS has been heard all over the world in partnership with the radio plugging services offered by Musik and Film Radio Promotions Division. Learn more https://musikandfilm.com