Petals to Thorns [Black Translucent Ice Vinyl]

by d4vd

Overview

On his full-length debut, 2023's darkly emotive yet endlessly hooky Petals to Thorns, David Anthony Burke, aka d4vd, makes good on his emo-goth loverman persona. Having broken through with his 2022 single "Romantic Homicide," Burke builds upon that buzz here, crafting an album that feels like a kohl-eyed amalgam of Stevie Wonder and the Cure's Robert Smith. However, while "Romantic Homicide" (which is included here) certainly set the tone of the self-eviscerating balladry at the core of Burke's aesthetic, Petals to Thorns reveals there's so much more depth to his sound. Hearing that he grew up listening to gospel music isn't hard to believe when you hear the fragile guitar arpeggio that opens "Sleep Well," a lilting love song with shimmering string-synth accents that evokes the yearning R&B of Boyz II Men and early Michael Jackson. Equally evocative, the sparkling "Here with Me" sounds somewhat impossibly like Ween covering a Lionel Richie slow jam from the '80s. Elsewhere, we get the baroque harmonies of "This Is How It Feels" (a romantically twilight-toned duet with Laufey) and the moody new wave balladry of "Backstreet Girl." Yet it isn't all shadows and fog as he dives headlong into the anthemic post-punk of "You and I" before finishing things off with the grungy, Paramore-esque album closer "The Bridge." ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	08/11/2023
Label:	Darkroom / Interscope
UPC:	0602455797780
Rank:	18641

Tracks

1. Sleep Well
2. Here With Me
3. This Is How It Feels
4. Don't Forget About Me
5. Worthless
6. Backstreet Girl
7. You and I
8. Romantic Homicide
9. The Bridge

Album Credits

Performance Credits

d4vd   Primary Artist,Vocals
Laufey   Primary Artist,Vocals
Amber Navran   Saxophone
Spencer Stewart   Guitar
Josh Shpak   Trumpet

Technical Credits

Michael Harrison   Producer
Trevor Taylor   Mixing Assistant
Jeff Ellis   Mixing,Engineer
Robin Hannibal   Composer,Producer
Ajay Bhattacharya   Composer
Prashant Mistry   Mixing,Mastering Engineer
Spencer Stewart   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming
Stint   Producer,Programming
Leroy Clampitt   Composer
Evan Wise   Producer
Casey Smith   Composer,Producer
Ivan Handwerk   Mixing Assistant
Sofia Valdes   Composer,Producer
Laufey   Composer
Grayskies   Producer
Dan Darmawan   Composer,Producer
d4vd   Mixing
Chris Marek   Producer
Noah Ehler   Producer
Egan Leister   Composer
Nextime   Producer
David Anthony Burke   Composer,Engineer,Vocal Engineer
Matt Bartkus   Producer