What is it about The Dears that makes their best music about the worst stuff in the world? Or does it just sound that way?
Back in 2003, their second record No Cities Left took an apocalyptic view of things with songs about the end of the world, cumulating with the roaring “Lost in the Plot,” where singer Murray Lightburn moaned lines like “And I’ll promise not to cry any more,” as band exploded behind him.
Now the Dears are back with Times Infinity Volume One, another set of songs that could describe the end of days. But they could also describe a failed relationship or even a bad breakup, with a healthy dash of melodrama. Titles include “We Lost Everything,” “Here’s To the Death of all Romance,” and “Face of Horrors.” And since they already compare themselves to Morrissey, it means I don’t have to. It’s so thoughtful when a band does that.
On Times Infinity Volume One, The Dears suggest their music is concerned with emotion: love, longing, loneliness, all the usual stuff. And it is, but it’s a little weird to see a group of 30-something people, people who by now really should be pretty stable and mature, getting emotional about the same stuff they did a decade ago. I mean, The Dears have been around since 1995. And they’re still singing lines like “forever on my knees is where I’ll be.” I mean, I don’t know the guy personally, but I think Morrissey just blushed.
The saving grace on Times Infinity Volume One is the music itself. It’s nice, if typical, indie pop, coloured with touches of strings and keyboards, and propelled by some nice, driving guitar. They have a nice rhythm section and I particularly think Jeff Luciani’s drumming is on-point. Basically, the playing saves the album from seeming too full of itself and collapsing under it’s own, Smiths-indebted weight.
Perhaps an example is in order. Let’s break down, “Someday All This Will Be Yours.” Despite pretentious lines like “Don’t ever change your name / that dirty mark of Cain,” the Dears play it as a jangling indie rock tune; even the guitar’s tone evokes The Smiths. As does Lightburn’s lyrics. And like how Johnny Marr’s playing gives another level to songs like “The Headmaster Ritual,” the band’s playing keeps the moroseness from overwhelming their songs.
There are other moments where things click, sort of, but the returns aren’t as strong as they’ve been in the past for the Dears. Where before their sense of drama seemed cinematic and engaging, they now seem inward-facing, like they’re withdrawing into themselves. Where before, songs like “Lost in the Plot” were engaging and energetic, now the band seems like it’s falling back onto familiar sounds and styles: jangling rhythms, mid-tempo indie rock, slow and moody ballads.
It works sometimes, but not always. And even now, No Cities Left feels fresher than Times Infinity Volume One does. But that album is over ten years old.
According to their Tumblr, there’s a second volume of Times Infinity on the way (the title kinda gives this away, too). And while I’m glad to see The Dears are still putting new music out, it also seems like a lot of something we don’t really need. This could’ve worked fine as an EP, maybe even a couple of stand-alone singles. But two full records of Smiths-indebted rock? “Onward and Downward?” They said it, not me.
Rating: 1.5/5
http://thedears.tumblr.com/
Update, Nov. 3: Several misspellings, a reference to the band’s general age corrected.