Montreal’s The Dears, return with their eight studio alum Lovers Rock on May 15th via Dangerbird Records.
‘Lovers Rock’, unashamedly returns to the breakthrough album ‘No Cities Left’ for inspiration. In 2001, post 9/11, they were searching for love in an apocalyptic world. It offered loving direction through a world of terror and uncertainty. In 2020, pre-covid, they are clear, the world is in our hands to change. Would this sense of clarity raise the bar of their doomed but loving landscapes?
Like ‘No Cities Left’, they manage to find a romanticism in their apocalyptic landscapes. ‘Instant Nightmare’, soars grandiose planes with its ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ orchestration whilst remaining introspective and hazy like Grandaddy. Meanwhile, ‘The Worst In Us’, elevates Doves to a more euphoric mind-set via a science fiction examination of human failure.
On ‘Stille Lost’ and ‘No Place On Earth’, their rhetoric remains passionate but, the quality drops. It serves as a stark reminder to the years of Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. Although true of heart, they were poor operators of the world they wanted to change. Both songs are a howl into the abyss whilst, the abyss is in power.
This is countered though dramatically on ‘Play Dead’ and ‘Too Many Wrongs’. Bowie and Brett Anderson’s social reflections and pop sensibilities flirt with Flaming Lips admirably. Such is the spike in class, that the anti- trump sentiment “you may have suffered from the wrath / from a god that wants to kill you” is lifted to powerful dramatic heights. On ‘Too Many Wrongs’, the psychedelic 60s pop of Gruff Rhys’ ‘Candylion’ and ‘Hotel Shampoo’ is brought to life. It’s beauty demonstrably vast, ignore it at your peril.
The Dears, in a similar vein to The Charlatans or The Coral, have never required an early album revival. Their risk journey has unravelled with striking consistency. With the world taking stock, the affectionate nod to yesteryear couldn’t be more aptly timed.