photo by Sam Pickart; photo courtesy of D.C. Anderson

Album Review: D.C. Anderson – Sharing the Night with Darkness

D.C. Anderson is an accomplished stage and screen actor and recording artist, with a delivery style very much of the stage. If you like Broadway cast albums – or if you like sincere, well-crafted singer-songwriter music – then D.C.’s albums of intimately sung, theatrically-styled offerings are likely to be right up your alley.

Sharing the Night with Darkness is a collection of songs many of which touch upon issues like aging and mortality. It’s an incredibly moving collection, meaning I have to pick my listening moments, reserving this album for times when I’m in the mood to be deeply moved and emotionally affected. For a glimpse into the topics and emotions behind each of the songs on this disc, I’d direct you to D.C.’s Facebook post where he discusses this album.

D.C. is joined by David Robison on piano for some songs, Luke Wygodny on guitar for others, and vocals-only with no accompaniment for still others. Other musicians chip in during one or two songs each: Audrey Q. Snyder (cello) on “Mail Order Annie” and “Such Fine Things” and Lem Jay Ignacio (piano) and Lemy Ignacio (guitar) on “You Do Something To Me.”

album art by Julia Mann; image courtesy of D.C. Anderson

D.C. opens his heart in the album’s opening song, “Again,” about falling love with his husband over and over again. As mentioned, D.C.’s delivery style is very theatrical, so a touching song like this brings to mind a solo performance on a stage, just the singer in a spotlight, delivering a heartfelt appeal at a crucial moment in the storyline. Or, perhaps, a closing monologue-type song, one that reflects on the play’s happy ending after a night of twists and turns on the stage. Regardless, it’s easy to place this song on Broadway, even though it’s not.

“Market Girl” is a song I enjoy for a very different reason. It’s plucky and playful. As is D.C.’s rendition of Cole Porter’s “You Do Something to Me.”

D.C.’s voice soars on songs like “A Tree” and Harry Chapin’s “Mail Order Annie.”

D.C. serves up serious, powerful stage vocals on tracks like “I Am Anger” and “I Am the Dream.”

“Twenty Twenty Three” is styled more like a folk song, though D.C.’s vocals assert his position as an emphatically emotional troubadour when he plays that role.

Then there are other songs, like his ominous cover of Bob Dylan’s “Dark Eyes,” styled like a sad pub drinking song. Similarly styled, from a pub dirge perspective, is “Sully’s Pail,” an enthralling vocals-only cover of the Dick Gibbons-penned lyric that was put to music by Tom Paxton several decades ago. (You can hear Paxton’s version here.)

D.C. touches upon some heavy topics that can make for some rugged listening. “When I Get Quiet” is thoughtful and pensive. “I’ve Come Looking For You” is heart wrenching, as is “Night, June 1988,” a song with an interesting arrangement that’s split between interspersed spoken-word and musical delivery. “I Must Know You” is intensely delivered from the point of view of someone suffering memory loss. And “Epilogue,” while less difficult than the other songs I mention in this paragraph, is an Andrew Ratshin-penned song about a man looking back on his life from his funeral; it’s less difficult because it’s not anguished and the music is a bit more upbeat. Still, though, a heavy topic.

The penultimate song on Sharing the Night with Darkness is D.C.’s exquisitely voiced cover of “I’ll Never Find Another You.” D.C. notes, in that Facebook link I suggested you read above, that it’s his tribute to The Seekers’ Judith Durham. D.C.’s version is, of course, more melancholy than the original, which is further emphasized by his a capella delivery.

The album closes with “Such Fine Things,” with vocals about as close as you can find to crooning in this collection.

In all, with so many dark and/or heavy songs on this exceptionally crafted album, a particular frame of mind is required to choose to listen to Sharing the Night with Darkness. When that sort of introspection and depth of thought and emotion are what you seek, though, this album offers a well-designed vehicle for that experience.

image courtesy of D.C. Anderson

More Recently

On January 16th, D.C. released the single “Twenty Twenty Four,” planned to potentially be the title track of D.C.’s next album. Recorded with Luke Wygodny, who lent his guitar-playing to the single and shares songwriting credit for creation of the music to D.C.’s lyrics, “Twenty Twenty Four” places a strumming, folky guitar beneath D.C.’s vocals, moving from soft and thoughtful to loud, quivering, and somewhat angry, as it contemplates the power of love to bring an end to war, or at least its power to yearn for peace and its resolve not to stay silent. You can find a lyric video for “Twenty Twenty Four” via this link.

Looking Ahead

Well, there looks to be a new album on its way. Twenty Twenty Four. As of the eponymous single’s release a few months ago, a spring release date was targeted.

If you’d like to catch D.C. in person, he is scheduled to appear with Ritt Henn at noon on June 1st at the Upstream Gallery in Hastings on Hudson.

Beyond that, I’m not sure of the best way to remain abreast of D.C.’s latest goings-on, but a good place to start would be to follow him on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and X.