Labels: Chapter Music
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Not sure if I just feel sorry for the Aussies because of the cricket or if they are just genuinely pumping out more good bands than is actually plausible, but this Dick Diver (erm) LP may just be the best album of 2013 wot comes out this year. Bar a couple of absurd mis-steps, this record is pretty much perfect. It’s jam packed with bummed out indie pop tunes such as the title song, where Steph Hughes (also of Boomgates, yikes! how many people are in 1 band this good let alone 2) takes lead vocal duty for a wandering effort that is just totally on point. People have not been making sad sack indie pop tunes as good as this since Gaze hung it up, I tell you what. And you can dip into this album on almost any track and be similarly mesmerised. The exceptions being: the too quirky for it’s own good “Boys” and the frankly bizarre finale “Languages of Love” – these two songs should never have made the cut, being reserved for some goofy 7″ single under a different band name. The rest of the time things wander off in different directions without ever straying too far from the general template. “Water Damage” has gently jangling guitars not too far removed from Real Estate, whilst the Wrens-ian “Lime Green Shirt” might be the pick of the record, at least until you make it as far as the jaw dropping “Amber” which will cut you off at the knees, sheesh. They even sampled rainfall, or my tinnitus is worse than ever, the emo bastards. Throughout this album the Diver charm with smart pop songs that retain a melancholic edge, beaten down but carrying on, it’s a brutal combination, the kind of music I spend all year hoping I’ll stumble across and rarely ever do.
I’m smitten.
p.s. How is someone from UV Race in this band?!