Dear and Glorious Physician
Self-titled CD
New Granada
Genre: indie rock
July 11 2008 |
Four blonde siblings comprise this Floridian rock band,
and they spend the
thirty minute duration of this self-titled album showing off their
training in pop-hook-ology. Dear and Glorious Physician’s songs exude
energy and tension, yet they've injected all that noise with a more-than-healthy
dose of melody. Nowhere is this better exhibited than in the opening
track, “Spooky Action.” A brooding beginning bursts open into a
menacing post-punk anthem; Jillian Westfall’s sweet but sad vocals
take the song to a whole new level, and the blistering guitar charge
that concludes the chorus lends the track a nice Pixies vibe.
The rest of the disc doesn’t live up to the benchmark established
by track one, although a similar formula keeps the proceedings
consistently entertaining. Among the highlights are uplifting “A
Winter Machine” and gritty “I Do Not Think We Are Beyond the Old
Mistakes”. Meanwhile, album centerpiece “Frenzy (What Happened Then)”
boasts some solid hooks and a lovely sense of urgency, but ends up a
tad too long for its own good. Some tracks, like “Memento Mori” and
“Kulblai Khan” [sic], are a bit dry melodically, although the album’s
overall momentum tends to buffer the impact of these weaker moments. The end result, then, is a very impressive debut album that
proves the spirit of indie rock
is alive and well. Nicely done.
dear
+ glorious physician's myspace
81%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 9 tracks, distributed by
the
label,
released 2007] |