Search - Dance Gavin Dance :: Dance Gavin Dance

That's no moon

Luke Rounda | Lawrence, KS | 08/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"They say never judge a book (or by extension, an album) by its cover, but that's the first thing you notice. When the cover is a cross between an anime Death Star and Minesweeper concept art, that's expected. The art direction on the outside hints at the direction of the art inside. In the case of Sacramento-based Dance Gavin Dance's self-titled, several descriptive words come to mind ("dirty," "colorless," "metallic") but the edges of the image are soft and rounded. And it's all surrounded by blank space.



"Dance Gavin Dance" is a record which certainly lives up to the 'promises' of its cover. Musically, that translates into enough variation to keep serious listeners entertained. Melody and spaciness play counterpoint to rough-hewn superchunky guitar riffage that shares borders with Circa Survive and The Blood Brothers alike. The DGG boys love them some musical shifts, too, evoking tinctures of Tool or Gatsbys American Dream. (Though thankfully not quite Mike Patton, in this case.)



Gatsby's singer Nic Newsham even lends a lung to "Uneasy Hearts Weigh the Most," a manic depressive love song that swoons between drunken bar-room fist-pumping, and sickly sweet, poppy crooning not far removed from Newsham's chick-magnet side project Red Red Blue. A few round, clear notes bloom like the start of a sweeping, heartfelt epic, to begin the track--but the guitar chokes before anything big happens, mirroring the inner turmoil of the song's narrator:



"Holy s***, she smells like heaven // Been friends since we were eleven // Oh my god, I like her // Yeah, I heard you like her // Baby, I thought that we had something // Compared to him, I'm next to nothing // And oh my god, I like her // But yeah, I heard you like her."



"Hot Water on Wool" tosses Dance Gavin Dance's hat towards the "reflective, slow, ambient" ring of this circus, but it's the oceanic "Caviar" which strays closest to Circa Survive's territory, with fellow Sacromentoan Chino Moreno's undulating Team Sleep vocals blazing the trail. The final guest vocalist, Matt Geise, steps to the plate with "Rock Solid": a predictably solid rocker, which midway swings into a spoken word, conversational skit with only a bleating guitar note and urgent wardrums as accompaniment.



"Skyhook" sees Dance Gavin Dance's new vocalist Kurt Travis trying out some great-sounding falsetto, alternately "aah-aah"'ing and screaming his way through, hinting at some hidden versatility which could come in handy replacing former Dance Gavin Dance singer Jonny Craig on future releases.



With 2008 so far being a year of anticipation and disappointment, it's heartening to hear releases like "Dance Gavin Dance" which crackle with the energy of comfortable experimentation. Backed with unspoken endorsements by past groups known for their top notch brands of unique, heavy, progressive rock (Gatsby's American Dream, Deftones), Dance Gavin Dance has potential to go far. If they can nail down a solid line-up, the fanbase will be there waiting for the foreseeable future."