Past show:

(Go here for Diane's upcoming events)

When:	Sun. February 12, 2012 @ 8:30pm
Venue:	Holy Oak Cafe, Toronto, ON, Canada
Location:	1241 Bloor Street West ( at Emerson )
Cost:	$10 at the door

The Dark Age
Diane Cluck

@ Holy Oak Cafe 647-345-2803

Andrew Barker, best known for his work as a multi-instrumentalist and contributing force behind Toronto Folk-Rock outfit Bruce Peninsula, showcases his individual talent with his emerging solo venture, The Dark Age. Barker, previously known as The Lake Vernon Drowning, has spent the last year composing a sprawling allegorical concept album based on a modern-day Dark Age. All of which crept into his imagination one morning almost fully formed and begging for sound.

Musically influenced by a diverse set of artists, Barker displays a world with sound and feeling reaching out in all directions--in one direction, a vibrant mixture of post-rock influences like Gastr del Sol or Tortoise, and in another, the delicate yet boiling cauldrons that are Mount Eerie or Elliott Smith. Throw in a varying array of Jazz influences, i.e: Wayne Shorter and Miles Davis, and pull everything together with influences from the Metal genre such as "Mastodon" or "High on Fire". The result sets the stage for a world set to crumble beneath a beautiful melody.

Barker's new project is a marriage of beautiful yet eerily harmonized lyrics, set along side the lovely Denise Anderson's vocals. Additionally, the effortlessly talented Peter Kauffman (piano) and Dennis Song (drums) compliment and interweave with Barker's accomplished guitar work. Expect beautiful questions and angry answers with words that gnash their teeth, and sounds that bite.

Diane Cluck has been performing her original brand of intuitive folk around New York City and the wider world since 2000. Her songs have been noted for their "irregular, or even cellular, logic" (Other Music), her singing compared to "the broken coo of an outraged owl or howling bark of a horny dove" (Voodoo-Eros). Her self-taught guitar style, influenced by years of playing classical piano, has been described by The Village Voice as "brilliant" and "idiosyncratic."

Diane's six home-recorded albums have received international distribution and acclaim; songs from "Oh Vanille / ova nil" appeared in the film "Margot at The Wedding" and the U.K. television series, "Skins." She has toured both the U.S. and Europe, and often works with textural, jazz-inspired drummer Anders Griffen. Past collaborators include CocoRosie, Jeffrey Lewis and André Herman Düne. Known for oblique vocal harmonies on recording, her live show focuses on singing as a healing, textural experience, leaving space in which listeners may wander, ponder or simply be.

In March 2012, Diane will launch Song-of-the-Week--a fan-funded, subscription-based project through her website, in which she will write, record and deliver a new song to subscribers each week for a period of six months.

Diane's trips to Canada are relatively infrequent; please come out and say 'hello' !


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