Darin Mickey: Death Takes a Holiday

In 2014, New York-based photographer Darin Mickey (born 1974) began documenting a handful of record shops in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania--independently run stores that opened primarily in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, many of which are now on their last legs, or have recently been shuttered. These stores are the alphabetized havens for the musical successes of a few and the forgotten failures of many. Shot from the perspective of a middle-aged man restlessly clinging to his youth and the hope of finding that elusive artifact to make anxiety subside and keep the reaper at bay, Death Takes a Holiday shows us a community of beautiful recluses brought together by obsession, compulsion and a pure, undying love of music.
The genius of Mickey's book is that, for the consumer of fine art photography, this is a melancholy look at an aging subculture.--Pat Padua "Spectrum Culture "