urgency to bleed

Dum Dum Girls' Only in Dreams is the equivalent in the world of independent music to escapist pop - fortunately, though, it has enough substance to place it squarely outside of guilty pleasure territory. The album also represents a huge musical leap for the band, who, until their He Gets Me High EP earlier this year, specialized in making simplistic, short and often times barely discernible lo-fi garage pop tunes that were more likely to hurt your ears than leave a genuine lasting impact. With Only in Dreams, frontwoman Dee Dee (also known as Kristen Gundred) and the other Dum Dum Girls have upped their game by a rather staggering amount, finally allowing the addictive, unabashedly poppy melodies that lurked far beneath the murky surface of their earlier material to step into the spotlight. The production is much better, giving all of the songs an energetic, sugary sheen reminiscent of girl group pop from decades past, the instrumentation is more layered and interesting, the songwriting, though often still adhering to the formula of "less is more," comes across as less sloppy and lackadaisical, and Gundred's vocals are more confident. All of this has probably prompted some longtime Dum Dum Girls fans to cry "sell out" but if that's true, I've never heard a band sell out and sound so damn good before. With their previous releases, Dum Dum Girls was only one of many in a long line of bands capitalizing on the current lo-fi craze in indie music but Only in Dreams has set them off on their own distinct path. It still may not offer up any true innovations and it's only lighthearted pop music at core but it's also the kind you can keep coming back to without fear of growing bored. The majority of the album is brimming with such gems, from the brief but glorious opener, "Always Looking," to "In My Head," "Heartbeat" and "Caught in One," three truly perfect songs that follow one after the other, in such quick succession that you'll somehow end up with all three stuck in your head at once because none stands out over the rest. On these songs, Gundred's voice is given more room to impress; though it still remains rather muted, the impassioned pre-choruses briefly bring to mind her old bluesy garage rock band, Grand Ole Party. They also lend a bit more attitude to the songs, counteracting the sweetness of the music and melodies so that it doesn't become too overbearing. Later in the album, the band branches out a bit: "Coming Down," a hazy six-minute Mazzy Star-ish ballad, is gorgeous and intense but sounds slightly out of place amongst this set; "Hold Your Hand," though progressing at a similar tempo, is more stripped-down and organic, allowing it to blend more easily with the rest of the album's atmosphere. As a whole, Only in Dreams in far from groundbreaking but it's such a truly infectious listen that its originality hardly matters - I haven't been able to stop playing several of these songs in my head since I first heard them and, sometimes, that's just as great an achievement as emotional depth or musical experimentation.

I've actually heard a few of these albums since writing this up. Oh well. I guess that's what I get for being lazy about posting.

( I close my eyes to conjure up something but it's just a faint taste in my mouth. )