Monday, April 13, 2015

Exclusive Premiere: New Single from dollys


"How Charming"

Pop music isn't easy. Think about it. It has some significant constraints. You're trying to create something memorable and catchy that says what you want it to say in the span of about two to four minutes. Lots and lots of my favorite songs and my favorite bands don't do this at all. Built To Spill, Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, even Dinosaur Jr. can get pretty jammy and long-winded at times. I love lots of those.

But there's something about a tightly constructed pop song that always blows me away. Think about Brian Wilson, Lennon and McCartney, Morrissey and Marr, Elvis Costello, Belle and Sebastian, that great debut album from Hospitality, last year's great record from Alvvays. I'm always amazed at the joy and happiness that can come from the discipline of great pop music.

Back in September, I had the privilege of heading into Lakehouse Recording Studios on a Sunday night to hear dollys' forthcoming Oh, Please. The band handed out little comment cards, and we were supposed to give the songs a number rating (1-10) and write down any impressions we had as the tracks played. I remember writing lots of high numbers and scribbling notes like "Beach Boys" and "The Smiths" in the margins.

The Oh, Please recording process was long as dollys recorded everything live to analog tape. The physical production process has been even longer, and we're still waiting for Oh, Please to be unleashed on the world. Trust me. The wait will be worth it.

But... But...

dollys would like to give you something for being so patient. Today, you can stream two non-album tracks that make up the single "How Charming." Like Oh, Please, the band recorded these songs at Lakehouse live to tape. Both have been staples of dollys' live shows for a while.

Drummer / vocalist Natalie Newbold takes lead vocals on both songs. The title track starts out kind of bouncy and dreamy, but rocks quite a bit around the chorus. There's a great guitar solo from Jeff Lane as the song nears its end.

"Cornerstones" does a nice version of the loud-quiet-loud thing, opening with a noisy intro before Newbold is back singing over some quiet guitar, muted drums, and some subtle bass from Erik Kase Romero (who also engineered / mixed the tracks along with Tim Pannella). The chorus, "Hating yourself is never time well spent. This low year has given me hell...," is a mini production number every time it comes around.

dollys know how to do pop in a way that's a lot like some of the names I listed up there at the beginning. There's an attention to detail that's obvious in what they do -- from the songcraft all the way to the production and engineering. Check out both tracks right here.

dollys will be holding a release show for "How Charming" this Saturday, April 18th, at New Brunswick's Glitterbox with Perennial Reel, Howlish, and Specimen 47. That's also the day you'll be able to download "How Charming" from dollys' Bandcamp page for free.



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