Dum Dum Girls have been a favorite of mine over the last several years. I just like that they've got this style and persona -- black clothing, bangs, red lipstick, affected movements on stage -- and the songs to back it up. And reverb. Dee Dee's voice was made to be drenched in reverb.
On their third full-length, Too True, Dum Dum Girls drop much of the garage rock sound of their earlier work in favor of the cold, pristine, shimmering sounds of 1980s post-punk and proto-dream pop. Even a quick listen to Too True reveals the influence of Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Robert Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, and Ian McCulloch. Dee Dee's always had a great sense of what makes a good pop song, though; and Too True delivers a thirty-minute burst of melodramatic, goth lyricism bathed in Dee Dee's version of "chasing pop into the dark."
"Cult of Love" comes closest to early Dum Dum Girls with its surf-inspired sound, but the production is much cleaner than the band's earlier work, allowing us to hear the lyrics even through all the reverb. Dee Dee's songs are rarely very dense lyrically. She understands that economy works best in pop, but she almost always works in an attention-grabbing line. "Cult of Love" opens with "We touch beneath our skin / Right down to the bare wires," which I love.
I can't quite tell if "Rimbaud Eyes" is kind of an in joke, an acknowledgement of what listeners will be thinking when they hear how far into Smiths / Siouxsie Sioux 80s alternative Dum Dum Girls have taken their sound. It's mostly Dee Dee singing "You've got / Rimbaud Eyes" in between sections from Rimbaud's "The Drunken Boat" over some dark and gothy guitars. Whatever the intention, it's a standout on the record.
"Too True To Be Good" is the strongest track here for me. It's probably got the record's most upbeat riff, but with lyrics like "The clouds were opening above my head / Stood on the edge feeling so dead" it keeps to the overall feel of the album. And the way Dee Dee delivers "We're killing hours / We're killing time" instantly makes me think of Echo and The Bunnymen.
Lead single "Lost Boys and Girls Club," with its "How Soon Is Now?" riff and "Evil Blooms," with its "Why be good? / Be beautiful and sad" both revel in Smithian melodrama and affectation. Album-closer "Trouble Is My Name" carries on the Dum Dum Girls' tradition of closing things out with a moving slow-burner. The song's "I'm trouble / She's trouble" is kind of a summation of the whole record.
There's been a debate raging ("Raging" may be a little strong, but you get it.) here at CoolDad Music about retro sounds in current music. What it comes down to, I think, is whether the sounds are there simply to attract nostalgic listeners or to make a point. I think Dee Dee's making a point. She's using the cold, detached, and distant sounds of 80s post punk to give some of her lyrics -- "Daisy chains of love," "I'm looking for you, through lavender haze" -- the proper context, making them sound less strained. She's also using it to distance herself from herself, to allow herself to be introspective as an outsider if that makes any sense.
Some people may miss the rougher, lower fidelity version of Dum Dum Girls, but I think that Too True represents a really natural evolution for them. It almost takes the band's M.O. of substance with lots of style to the extreme; but, at a just about perfect thirty minutes, it's there and it's gone. You barely have enough time to change into all black before Dee Dee's "I'm trouble..." has faded into the ether.
Too True is out now on Sub-Pop.
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