Five Dutch guys who knew each other from high school formed Daryll-Ann over fifteen years ago, in 1988. On their first record, Seaborne West (at the time released by UK-based Hut Records), they showcased their talent for making pure guitar rock. Sixteen years and five records later, they're still writing the same kind of music. There was no place in their career for, say, experimentation with electronics, or trying to rap instead of sing on their songs. Many indie-loving music fans tend to see that as a horrible sin: how can a band still make music if there is no progression? When there isn't even a hint of experimentation, how can a band still defend their own existence?
Daryll-Ann's sixth album Don't Stop proves that doing "new" things is not necessary to grow as a band. Instead of choosing to enter unexplored jungles, Daryll-Ann is simply deepening out their style and finding new side-branches. What's most striking on Don't Stop is the enormous variety of songs that Daryll-Ann make in the limited and often restricting rock realm, as well as the incredible transitions and segues in between them. From an alone-in-the-desert song ("Freeway") and a funky rocker ("We Love Danger") to an old-fashioned shaking rock ‘n roller ("Wild Side Brother") and an instant, sing-along classic ("When War Is On"), they all sound as if they were put on record during lunch.
To get back to the initial difficulties surrounding this record: no, Don't Stop is not something that hasn't been made before. But that certainly wasn't their intention anyway. Sure, a sense of experimentation and renewal is lacking from Don't Stop, but Daryll-Ann make up beautifully for that shortcoming by providing an excellent eleven songs that still manage to stick out, despite catering to the conventions of the music they love. And sometimes that can be a more admirable achievement in this glutted genre.
1. Freeway
2. When war is on
3. We Love Danger
4. Strange
5. The movin' men
6. Fame
7. 10.45
8. Wild side brother
9. You and me darlin'
10. Raga the messenger
11. Close to you