Des Ark

Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the F***er

Release Date: May 3, 2011

Label: Lovitt Records

By: David Russell

Des Ark’s 2011 release “Don’t Rock The Boat Sink The F***er” is easily one of the best hidden gems of 2011. It’s not too often that you stumble upon an album that evokes so much emotion and tells such a story in only 8 tracks and 34 minutes. While not necessarily a “concept album” in the traditional sense, every track on “Don’t Rock The Boat Sink The F***er” feels necessary and is cohesive to painting the overall picture. I recall first hearing the opening track, “My Saddle is Waitin’ (C’mon Jump on It) in an empty choir room on giant Pioneer speakers with my old high school choir director, my first semester in college. The sound immediately captured and encapsulated so much of what I had been thinking and feeling since going to college. A powerfully yearning mood is present throughout the whole record and only becomes more and more vivid through multiple listens. Des Ark’s vocals are buried somewhat under the mix of beautiful guitar and percussion sounds, so without careful listening, the lyrics are easy to miss. For the first several listens I was so entranced by the beauty of the sound that I didn’t even think to pay attention to the words. No experience of listening to the album however will match the first time that I read through the lyrics while listening to the record … on vinyl of all listening mediums. So many concepts and ideas that I was unaware were being portrayed became vividly illustrated through Des Ark’s unique way of writing. Hearing the story behind all of the melodic sound added so much meaning and made the album into the ultimate 34-minute trip through my emotions. Not a lot of albums have that same affect of such lyrical brilliance while sonically being so pleasing it’s almost impossible to change to something else while listening. “Don’t Rock The Boat Sink The F***er” has the ability to take whatever emotions you’re feeling in your life and make you feel like you’re inhaling every ounce of that bittersweet feeling as you breath. At least, that’s what it did for me. I would highly recommended this to anyone that’s ever yearned or been lonely or down in any way. It will make you relish in that emotion in a good way. In a bittersweet hopeful way.