Gary
Glauber
Reviews:
May,
2005

Scroll down for the latest from The Arts and Sciences and Dum Dog Run

The Arts And Sciences
Hopeful Monsters

(Daemon Records)

Release Date: March 8, 2005

www.daemonrecords.com

Depression and heartbreak are the twin impetuses behind the complex yet surprisingly genial songs that comprise *Hopeful Monsters*, the debut CD from Atlanta's own The Arts And Sciences. One might assume such subjects would inspire overbearingly tedious and maudlin treatments, but thanks to the deft hand of singer/songwriter Paul Melançon, that's never the case here. The lyrics are literate, sensitive evocations of hard feelings, and often are self-referential (songs about writing songs, etc). Rather, this music often runs bouncingly counter to the lyrical feelings explored, and features sweet and compelling vocal harmonies.

When putting together a backup band to tour the songs from his last solo album (Camera Obscura), Paul Melançon didn't realize he was creating a new band. But the chemistry was that good - and after time together on the road, the foursome headed into the studio to record what would become this new album. Paul handles vocals, guitar and Wurlitzer, and he is joined by Lee Cuthbert (ex-Gentle Readers) on guitar, Erin Bradley Dangar (ex-Moto-Litas) on vocals and bass, and Chris Pollette (The Ether Family Presents) on drums and bongos.

While Camera Obscura took a year and a half to develop, Hopeful Monsters was recorded in two weeks' time (at Rob Gal's studio). To make this recording more immediate and personal, the band recorded it virtually live, with only vocals and solos dubbed in later. The end product reflects that intimacy. There's a raw, spare feeling to most of this, capped by great vocal interplay. Not only do you get the expressive and familiar Paul Melançon voice, you get Erin Bradley Dangar's dulcet accompaniment, and the harmonies twist together seamlessly. The male/female vocals remind me of the great sounds of husband/wife team Stephen Dawson and Diane Christiansen of Dolly Varden.

Hopeful Monsters opens with "Tell It To The Bees," a melodic exploration of trying to keep it together in the wake of bad news, with lying, evasion and secrecy as suggested strategies. Still, the real world looms on the periphery: "I hear the humming from outside / enough to know what it implies / Someone's draped the hive in black / and no one's sleeping well tonight / now that bad news has come." The vocals strike the perfect tone between nonchalance and fear.

The pretty ballad "What She Left" is a dissection of a relationship that once was, viewed through the filter of poetic metaphor as something you want but can't ever own, a general feeling of being late and displaced and uncomfortably lost: "What she kept was a fire escape of a love / A safety net you can only reach from above." The song is a slow march that shows both voices to great emotional advantage; it's haunting.

"Dark Double Bed" sounds like it could have fit into Camera Obscura. This is a typical Melançon creation - bouncy in its stuttering rhythms and full of literate observations on the unsettling dreamlike torpor of rocky love: "I can't take these snapshots of my downfall through someone's eyes / How long 'til a swift blow might make me realize / All the perfect graceless things that you did / aren't enough to settle up with Cupid."

The band goes in for a jazzier feel with the infectious "O Columbia," a musical censure of a self-absorbed woman eager to lay blame and "quick to point out she's been wronged before." This woman lashes out at others, then acts surprised when they swing back - and Melançon captures it to a tee.

In the center of the CD is the centerpiece that is "You Are Her(e)," a new song about a new song. Like a Paul Auster novel, there are layers of reality here. Not only is it a song about a song, the thoughts about how the song will be received start taking over the song itself. He writes a song for her, contemplates how she reacts to it, then becomes her. It's a tricky lyrical metamorphosis, but one that works.

Similarly, "Boom Echo" echoes this conceit: "I am the man in this song now who knows that I am the man in this song with no hope of making sense of the scenery." This man is trying to find resolution from a bad love lost, yet sadly, only wants to see her again.

For those seeking a little rockier edge, there's the guitar-driven "Gravel Queen." Again, Melançon does a great job of finding voice to describe a two-year relationship that's come undone. He starts out poetically ("I would never have chosen a fire this sad and golden / but now I'm curled around a heat I've learned to hate") and ends in anger ("You've got a right to know just where your heart has gone / So pick it up from the gravel where it's fallen / One more chance to keep it hid in any little hole that fits").

Melançon's intelligence elevates these songs to new levels. He really lays his thoughts bare on "Fluoxetine," a ballad that examines depression and its treatment with Prozac, all the unknowns and mixed emotions surrounding this dose of defenses, this "daily dissolve of anything within," and the ultimate regret that it provides: "I can't even write what I'm feeling / I can't even write, I'm not feeling." It doesn't get any more poignant and heartfelt than this.

"Last Time" is a tuneful taste of bile sent out to the one who has said goodbye and moved on to her next victim, speaking out from the ashes of an old childhood chant: "Ring around the rosie / a pocket full of posies for you / a scent to hide the poison I bring for you."

With "The Monster At The End Of The Book," Melançon once again toys with matters of reality, and it's anyone's guess as to what's true and what's a lie. This is more of a solo acoustic performance, all self-confession (or is it?) and that lovely and expressive voice is on display.

The album ends with a surprise cover of the Hot Chocolate hit "Emma." Here the band gets to show a little funk (and handclaps), while Melançon gets to let loose vocally and belt it out just a little bit (something he rarely does on his own songs).

All throughout, producer Rob Gal keeps things clean, matching the intimacy of the lyrics with the feel of close, personal performance. Melançon opts for less of a power-pop feel with these new songs, and those seeking traditional pop hooks might be disappointed. Melançon with his new band is more intent on revealing himself here, foibles and all, while exploring layers of reality. He does so within songs that seem pleasant enough at first listen. Still to truly appreciate what's here, you'll need repeated playing and some patience. While the harmonies between Melançon and Bradley Dangar are immediately exquisite, the listener really does need to give Hopeful Monsters time to reveal itself.

Hopeful Monsters is another fine offering from Paul Melançon. Surrounding himself with a superb trio of musicians, he serves up songs that offer frank explorations of such things as depression and heartbreak, yet does so in a literate and inviting musical fashion.

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Dum Dog Run
DDR

(Fuseic Music)

Release Date: April 21, 2005

www.dumdogrun.com

It's a well-known fact: sometimes you just need guitars to rock your world. And with summer fast approaching, this side project of four talented musicians reminds us all to keep rocking in the very noble cause of merely having fun forevermore. Dum Dog Run keep it real and keep it simple with an age-old formula of "all guitars, all the time." The members of the band claim that they do not touch or even look at keyboards and will not allow them on recordings or during live performances.

That's just the kind of hard line stance that is reflected in the music - this is rock as fun - an energized antidote to the moody mope of emo music that has monopolized rock for the last decade and a half. These sixteen songs (all clocking in at under four minutes each) are a throwback to the era of loud guitars coming at you through Marshall stacks, accompanied by thumping bass, pounding drums and vocals designed to echo off the back wall of the arena. Think Cheap Trick, think early Kiss, think the kind of melodic guitar crunch you aspired to in that garage way back when. That's what DDR offer to a troubled world.

The band is writer/producer and former Warner/Chappell staff writer Rick Altizer on vocals and guitar, Believable Picnic and Luxury Stars veteran Jade Hanson on guitar and vocals, former Bigger Than Dallas drummer Kyle Johnson and ex-Bigger Than Dallas and Foot Long Hog bassist Mickey Ryan. The veteran braintrust that comprise Dum Rog Run have seen rock trends come and go. They've combined their individual wisdom and decided in favor of melodic sing-along rock (with plenty of loud guitars, of course). Seems simple enough - loud, fun, guitar rock like it used to be - with lyrics that correspond (in other words, simple and fun from guys who don't take themselves too seriously).

The CD opens with the infectious "I Can't Stop It Now," a musical investigation into teenage awkwardness regarding love ("I get my ticket then I chicken out / though she controls me / now she'll never know me"). The track features fine guitars, as well as that affable Altizer voice. Similar feelings can be found on the track "Superstar," combining rock dreams of celebrity with a need to get noticed (in a way that's bound to get you smiling).

The idea here is to create catchy songs that address many of today's "hotly contested" social issues. For instance, there's "Mullet," another infectious track, this one about a man with a heavy load upon his shoulders (so to speak). Those bemoaning their chance at a relationship with one turned celebrity can sing along with "Jennifer Aniston." Our singer had his chance with this beautiful "friend" back in second grade - back B.B.P. (before Brad Pitt). He remains somewhat taken with her ("She kissed me on the cheek and I fell in love with that crooked little smile / She might live in Hollywood, but I'm living in denial"), so there's good news in the fact that she's available once more.

And what of those poor pathetic guys on The Bachelorette? DDR serves up "Bachelorette" about a love-struck contestant who declares "no so-and-so is gonna steal my rose." See, I told you they address important social issues.

Those being stalked should find solace in "Psycho Girlfriend," a bouncy cut with some guitar crunch about a pesky mental case who assaults with notes, balloons and Teddy Bears galore. The catalogue of oddball women continues with "Firecracker," about a hothead whose temper seems to make every day the fourth of July. The track is punctuated with hot guitars and harmonies.

Those stuck in a going-nowhere type job will enjoy the lament "All Over Again," which tempers frustration through guitar leads and catchy harmonies.

To look at a title like "Unraveling," one might assume it's a song about emotional dissolution, but remember, Dum Dog Run do keeps it simple. Going for the literal, it's merely a song about a sweater falling apart (again featuring guitars galore).

The CD also features an upbeat all-guitar, no keyboard cover of the classic Cars song "Let's Go" (the same as could be found on the fine compilation *Substitution Mass Confusion: A Tribute to The Cars*.

Lest you forget that rock and roll has its soft side, there's a subtle reminder in the song "Power Ballad," a musical request for a "song to pull us through." True to the power ballad form, there's a killer solo in there as middle bridge.

Dum Dog Run get to espouse their philosophy in a musical way in the song "Rock The World," touting the universal language of guitar-driven rock, simple and genuine. There's a certain charm inherent in "Gig To Play," when a local guitar band gets called to action and knows that non-paying pizza place gig can be as good as it gets: "We've been rehearsing every Monday night / Just wait, you'll see I'm right / We're gonna own that place tonight."

Guitars and fast cars go together well. "Let's Ride" trades on early Springsteen car vernacular, talking Trans Am with a Holley four-barrel on overload with fuel line injection.

The upbeat and genial "Dream Weekend" talks about seeing a Kiss show and having rock star fantasies; "Dreamer's Ball" is another high energy number with wall-to-wall guitars about a helpless soul dreaming (mostly about love).

Altizer, Hanson, Ryan and Johnson do a fine job of conveying good old-fashioned guitar rocking fun. Cleanly produced (another fine effort from Altizer), *DDR* arrives just in time for the "fun season," where these tunes might find a happy home at a beach party or just cranking out from a sleek convertible's souped-up sound system. The CD is a pleasant reminder of the way rock once was - and might possibly be again, if Dum Dog Run has their say in the matter.

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