Dogs At Large - Jeopardy

 

In these times of little record company involvement, Indie seems to have become a catch all category. Whilst the majors rely on lowest common denominator algorithms and suggest more autotune to artists whilst telling them to bring up the Bass.

So the genre has become crowded and confusing. Songs with multi layered harmonies battle with lo-fi pop. Another approach is to try very different song types to show your variety resulting in no one knowing what you are actually about. I listen to a lot of Indie and sadly most is pretty dire. Thank goodness for Dogs At Large.

Jeopardy, to me, is exactly what Indie used to be about. There are no bells and whistles without it ever being lo-fi. The strength of the songs are allowed to come to the fore with a say what you want to say and get off method that is just the job.

There is definitely a C86 DIY feel here and it is just great. This is most notable on the magnificent Break You Out, an absolute gem of song and the nearest the band get to wigging out. Sam Pirruccello's vocals are understated and that suits the contents here well.

The album has hints of both IRS and early 90's Alt Rock, How Fine has hints of early Teenage Fanclub. However Granite Swell has a real swagger and New Disguise as a fine vocal drawl in a splendid arrangement. 

Falling At Ego Death is very West Coast and everything on show here is really really effective. The songs aren't samey, slower numbers are inserted and match the quality of what is already there. If this were 1985, we would all be promoting Dogs At Large as the next big thing. So why not now?

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can also get at it by following the links here.

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