Foolish Beauty by Dark Little Rooms

It can be difficult to communicate pain without sounding despairing. Dark Little Rooms beautifully navigates its turbulent and lovelorn music, promising hope through the bruises.

Dark Little Rooms (DLR) is the song writing vehicle of Scott Crowder. From 2001-2005 Crowder and band alternated between writing, recording and playing shows with the likes of Stellastarr*, French Kicks, Smog & Denali.

Heavily inspired by the reissue only label, Numero Group, Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" and the posthumous release of Jeff Buckley’s “My Sweetheart The Drunk”, Crowder set off to present his latest work of home recordings to a larger audience and enlisted the talents of Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering to best capture and present the albums sessions.

All sessions were recorded on a Tascam 388 8 track recorder in the various apartments and homes that Crowder lived in while he and his wife called Richmond, VA home.

REVIEWS:

"9.3 out of 10 rating. Dark Little Rooms is the vision of singer/songwriter Scott Crowder, an ancient soul who sites Scott Walker and Nick Cave as inspirations. Crowder is in touch with personal pain and misery, and his distinct way of carrying you into his world is intoxicating. Drum machines haunt "Sooner Than Later" and "Leslie & Main", opening Foolish Beauty with a mechanical ambiance that wallows in near-perfection. His soulish vocals sweeten the soundscapes and weave contradicting emotions together in a tight knot. In some ways, Dark Little Rooms sounds like a 8-track home recording project, but in every good sense. By that I mean that these songs are kept to their bare essentials...pure and simple. And you're left to gaze through the window to witness something on the verge of turning exceptionally great. Crowder's vocal take on "Didn't I Say That I Was Young" could pass as a Passengers/U2 track. In fact, much of this album is reminiscent of mopy, experimental U2. The drones of "With Help From Bees" are propelled by cheap drum machines and hazy vocal mix-ups, yet like many of these songs, the final outcome is much greater than the sum of their parts. "Beauty Queen" is Crowder's ode to hip-hop, with a steady back beat and a rhythmic spoken vocal. His sense of soul is heavy and magnetic, and right after a groove driven track like the aforementioned "Beauty Queen", the piano driven Nick Cave-esque ballad "All That I Am" blazes with passion and yearning. Foolish Beauty is one of the best debut's you'll hear in 2007. 14 tracks of solid gold. For fans of singers and musicians!"
- From the Black & White Magazine

"(Foolish Beauty) is a remarkable voyage through the desperation and somber charm of all life has to give and take away. Put Foolish Beauty on late at night and let it transport you somewhere you never thought to go."
- From SOUND AS LANGUAGE music blog

"Listening to Dark Little Rooms is like being the parish priest hearing the confessions of the lost, the lonely and the clinically depressed. This is music to listen to alone at night after you've just lost your job, you've drank a couple of bottles of Vodka, your lover has left you for a much younger model, and you put everything on black and it came up red. It won't cheer you up but it may make you realize that there are people even more depressed than you. Listen to Dark Little rooms they may just save your life."
- From the UK blog THE DEVIL HAS THE BEST TUNA

"Dark Little Rooms 2003 self-released eponymous CD was an impressive piano-driven album featuring the soulful vocals of Scott Crowder. Three years later, Crowder is back with a solo album that is a slight departure from Dark Little Rooms but it does not completely break away from the blue eyed soul sound. Foolish Beauty is a hauntingly beautiful effort that blends a modern electronic influenced sound with spiritual vocals full of pain, longing, and regret. ‘Devotion Song’ and ‘Nothing I Wouldn’t Do’ definitely stand out as the album’s best tracks and draw comparisons to U2 and Tom Waits."
- Tony Doug Wright, Erasing Clouds

Dark Little Rooms is rock n' roll with a heart of gold. From 2001-2005 Scott Crowder & band alternated between writing, recording and playing shows on the East Coast of the U.S.A. with such artists as Smog, Derek Webb & Denali. In 2007 DLR became a solo venture for Crowder as he continues to write and record music while living in Virginia with his family.

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