The Dalloways - Penalty Crusade

I don’t have to tell you that we live in the age of dance rock. 68% of the young up-and-coming bands on the indie radar boast spikey guitars, annunciated basslines, and vocals shouted over the racket. As fun as this minimalist garage band recurrence is, there’s a subtlety I miss. How long has it been since we’ve heard something truly arranged? Something intricate and delicate and organic? Something to accompany a tastefully drunken twilight stroll in the city? I’d say about six years. That might be why this record is so refreshing. From head to toe, it’s layered with lush guitars, carefully chosen rhythms, and loungy vocals just strained enough not to sound disinterested. The production, despite its DIY origins with the band, is pristine. Most of the album’s gems are its lyrics. Take “Elected to tell you,” where singer Gerhard Enns proclaims matter-of-factly “Everything’s gone wrong today, and I was elected by the others to tell you that you should get your tongue ripped out, eat your words and go to hell, God help you. But I still love you.” The whole album, from breezy opener “Clarissa, dear,” to the tongue and cheek “Ice capades,” is laden with the kind of dry absurdist humor enough to make Morrissey himself chuckle. It is Enns ability to express frustrated romantic honesty without cheeseball clichés that sets The Dalloways apart from so many other dreampop bands. The overall highlight is clearly “Place to call our own:” every guitar lick and horn note (courtesy of the Jack Tripper Quartet) is on cue and perfect. These are the kind of tragic ballads rivaling Tigermilk-era Belle and Sebastian. Penalty Crusade earns top marks for attention to detail. Even the album cover is thoughtful! The mid-moment shot of Julia Ruell (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) encapsulates the album’s heartbreaks. However, it should be made very clear that The Dalloways haven’t charted any new territory here. The contemplative wordsmith, the empathetic melodies, this has all been done before. But they’ve done it so bloody well it’s hard not to sing their praises. Let’s just hope this is the first of many such albums, in the truest sense of the word. [www.dalloways.com]