The Dears ‘No
Cities Left’ (Bella Union)
(Nov '04 - recently
plucked from obscurity to become the critics' favourite, but what are
they like?))
The Dears make epic rock not too far from the sound Doves might make if those ex-Sub Subbers had never set foot in a club. The album’s deep, expansive, long, and appealing. What’s strange about the Dears – and what might have captured the attention of so many critics – is that though the band are from Canada, their singer Murray Lightburn sounds uncannily like everyone’s most-hated mockney, Damon Albarn!
It’s maybe a coincidence, but it’s one that at first makes it hard to hear the Dears in their own right. The stirring single ‘We Can Have It’ calls to mind a Blur who had always been serious – and without over-worthy world-music pretensions – but the album’s lyrics lack the scene-setting that Blur were so good at in their good old days (“she’s trying not to be sick again…” - Blur's 'For Tomorrow'). Save the odd, Morrissey-style line (“I don’t have a raincoat of my own”), the Dears deal in more subjective dramatics (“It’s the same old plot to these things, oh I promise not to cry”). The ambition of their music certainly helps the band, towering and epic, and grand – to carry on the post-Britpop tip think Pulp’s ‘This is Hardcore’ with an OTT rock solo, a moment of Spiritualized cacophony, occasionally Suede and even, almost, dub. I guess I ought to mention Radiohead, too. One segment of ‘Lost In The Plot’ reminds me of a clean Hefner, before a more impassioned vocal that, while hardly Black Francis, would bowl Damon over.
So while it doesn’t sound unlike anything else, this debut could be a great soundtrack to the winter – along with the Delgados, who before making ‘Universal Audio’ had been sweating over this kind of sound for years with little recognition – and could I also recommend the similar Great Depression? 'No Cities Left' appeals on first listen and will probably give further reward: the Dears do have some affecting - and catchy - moments, but we shall have to wait and see whether this band become as precious as their name, and if all these stupid comparisons can be left behind...
