Danny Malone’s Balloons is a slow moving indie pop album with soft, bright guitar notes over gloomy undertones. Balloons opens with the 38-second “Hush,” an incoherent whisper over escalating screeching noises, setting the haunting vibe for the rest of the record. Voice echoes, soft whispers and heavy lyrics like “We all/Oh we all/Fall in the end” in “White, White Light,” contribute to its dark feel. Similar to his 2010 album, Verses, ideas of addiction, love and death embody the theme. Malone sings in “Sugarwater,” “Face down in the sink/I found you there puking in your sleep.” In comparison, his 2009 debut, Cuddlebug, embodies a more lively sound. It only makes sense that Balloons was recorded in Engelsholm, a 15th century castle in Western Denmark that’s supposedly haunted.
“Middle Names” and “Lee Woke Me” slowly intensify with each chorus, encompassing steady guitar rhythms and subtle electronic beats. “Spiderlegs,” the first single released off of Balloons, stands out by embracing a faster tempo with heavier background vocals. While each individual track builds within itself, Balloons as a whole seems to be lacking in range. With 47 minutes compressed into 11 songs, it’s easy to get into the first few, but the rest of the album mimics a similar tempo that becomes almost predictable and tiresome. Since there is an ambiguous artistic appeal to it, Balloons takes examining from different angles to develop some sort of appreciation and understanding. Overall, Balloons sounds like a dark, twisted lullaby that will either captivate listeners or put them to sleep.
In A Word: Dark
