Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles

Diamonds in the Dark

Equal parts hard-driving barroom roots rock and swinging-door electric country, the band surrounds Borges’ burnished vocals with some perfectly fleshed-out accompaniment that will let you shuffle around the floor or cry in your beer. She’s glad it’s over, doesn’t know what you mean, but knows what you meant. She assays the rewards of the rock ’n’ roll life by noting all she’s got is some false eyelashes, worn out high heels and a dress that don’t fit. While she may be the belle of the bar, a wall flower bent in the sun, she’s invited to dance but never taken home. Her voice is strongest on the ballads—making ribbons of diamonds in the dark of stone-blind love—where her fatalistic don’t-give-a-damn resignation gives the lyrics a noir-ish edge.