Dark Colour is the project of Cincinnati, Ohio's Randall Rigdon who premieres his game changing/game hating, “The Games Are Killing Us”. Adding on to 2011's full-length Memories, Randall sets out to break Ohio indie dance culture from it's collective bedrooms and laptop Fruity Loops sketches with his upcoming Prisoner album dropping later this year. Bringing back the English “u” in his Midwest stateside spellings of color, Rigdon presents a new take that is all is own on the old school 'English Disco' notions. Dark Colour also brings back the soul of meaningful expressions within the electronic music medium that is often described as 'soulless' in lack of having a core substance. Exhibited in tones, and moods that express the darker moments of feeling bathed in the richest hues, Randall plays surgeon and performs a transplant of heart within the electronic dance-oriented machines. The charm is in the creation of inviting, synthesized textures that tap into tunes with lyrics that express the apprehension of woe in hating the game.
Like the recent Dark Colour singles “Burn It Down“, and “Be Your Man“; Rigdon's deconstructionist approach to electronic-centered sound is based on a burn-it-down-and-bring-it-up philosophy that stirs things both emotionally and musically. The delivery lends a confident consciousness that also expresses empathetic vulnerabilities toward potential soul-crushing situations, while at the same time rewriting the rules of homemade dance compositions.
Randall's years of soundscoring local Cincinnati film works and prior collaborative involvements is evident from the opening track's beginning key loop prior to the drum initiating steady drum sequencing. From here keys are gently layered like carefully laid bricks around the roaming central synth-spinner to create a thematic mood of declarations and confided exhaustion. It is not until one minute into the track, where soft-breathed whispers clue you further into the lyrical struggle of the title's implied discontent with the draining conventions of life's trying games we play without warranted guilt or reason.
“…the games are killing us, everyone of us, yet we've done nothing wrong, we've done nothing wrong…”
Taking the minimalist approach to lyrics, the mantra is repeated 9 times that implores the listener's interaction in that maybe you feel the same. Sang through Rigdon's preferred approach of muffled reverb effects, the synths turn the late night bedroom musings into dance floor ready confessionals. With a king back rhythm and equally charged keys, the thoughts run deep as you wonder what you may or may not have done to be caught up in the trap. If “The Games Are Killing Us” was a novella, it would take place within a labyrinthine citadel where the Dark Colour quest is to follow the synths, find fellow dissenting prisoners who still believe in themselves and their innocence in a push to break free from their proverbial bonds and captive cells within the world.
The Dark Colour full-length Prisoner is expected later this year.
