The Darling Downs

Possessing one of the more blood-chilling howls in the gallery of punk and post-punk frontmen, Kim Salmon made a name for himself as lead singer and six-string shredder of apocalyptic down under blues punks the Scientists and later the Surrealists. Like his Aussie colleague Nick Cave, Salmon has a gentler side; however, whereas Cave chose to slowly re-imagine himself as the expat poet laureate of rock & roll's smack-addled underbelly, Salmon remains refreshingly persona free, a case in point being his work as one half of the Darling Downs. Relinquishing vocal duties to Ron Peno of Died Pretty fame, Salmon gives the pipes a rest and lets his fingers do all of the talking. Over the course of two albums — 2005's How Can I Forget This Heart of Mine? and 2007's From One to Another — the pair perfects a rustic, dusty folk sound that recalls both the ancient sounds of the English moors and the reconfiguration of those melodies in the Delta and mountain regions of the American South. While Darling Downs come off as a rather simple unassuming project, the duo's music is full of subtle depth and showcases an often overlooked aspect of Salmon's complex and underrated body of work.