Nov 11th, 2008 · A quartet originally formed in Madison, Wis. in 1996, The Great Depression is now based in Denmark. The moniker is an especially fitting one, as the ten songs on the Great Depression's third and latest full-length album, Forever Altered, all drift through gray and somber landscapes. But its melancholia is sophisticated rather than melodramatic.
Oct 13th, 2008 · Columbus Day is traditionally marked by going to parades that honor the man credited with "discovering" America. But for Native Americans, whose ancestors were displaced and marginalized by the European journey to this continent, it's a day of somber reflection or even mourning.
Sep 29th, 2008 · Liz Durrett is finally stepping out of her shell on her third and latest album, Outside Our Gates. Known for her sparse and somber Southern folk music, the Athens, Ga.-based musician has put together a release that still has plenty of gloom but is now balanced by over a dozen guest musicians, including her uncle, Vic Chesnutt.
Sep 22nd, 2008 · In Nadeem Aslam's new novel, The Wasted Vigil, post-Sept. 11 Afghanistan is a vast field of human misery, physical distress and wounds — both physical and psychic.
Sep 11th, 2008 · In New York City, a somber ceremony marked the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. "We come each year to stand alongside those who loved and lost the most, to bear witness to the day which began like any other, and ended as none ever has," New York mayor Michael Bloomberg told the crowd that gathered Thursday at ground zero.
Aug 3rd, 2008 · At 24, Willy Mason already sounds like a withered man. Accompanied by a musical saw player and members of his family on stage, his anti-anthems began Sunday's Newport Folk Festival in a somber mood. But a sweet moment came when Mason invited his parents — local to the area — on stage and lightened up the set just before noon.
Apr 25th, 2008 · Sun Kil Moon's Mark Kozelek is remarkably adept at crafting somber, epic ballads like the gorgeous "Lost Verses," which opens the new April. Affecting and engrossing in spite of its nearly 10-minute running time, "Lost Verses" fits seamlessly alongside Kozelek's best work with Red House Painters.
Apr 16th, 2008 · It was one year ago when a student at Virginia Tech gunned down 32 of his classmates and professors in a nightmarish killing spree. At the Blacksburg campus, students, administrators and residents gather to honor those who died.