By Juan Pablo Mazzola
As a long-time fan of TDP, I was hoping they would eventually release new material – and it is finally here. See, some of us still treasure physical copies of music, especially when the level of musicianship is so high.
For those of you are not familiar with this band (project perhaps?), they are a duo compromised of Willie Dowling (Honeycrack, Jackdaw4) and Jon Poole (Cardiacs, The Wildhearts). They have released three albums and a number of singles that are ALL next level genius.
The rise of extreme right wing, war, a pandemic and a lot of other horrible things welcomed the third decade of this very stupid century, but at least we still get a ray of light when it comes to new releases like this. How come you don’t love a band like this? For every fan of Jellyfish, XTC, Squeeze, 10cc, Queen, Beatles, ELO… you can’t not fall in love with this nutty duet.
What they did here is putting together the singles they have been releasing in digital format, and the result is a mind-blowing collection of huge songs that can bring a smile on anybody with a decent taste for music.
‘The Strawman’ opens the album with its progressive rock mood, strong drums and beatlesque chorus in pure pop bliss, followed by the intense riff of ‘White Light’, a song that sounds like Trent Reznor tripping in a British garden. My favourite song in here is ‘Fuck You Goodbye’: power pop and cursing work together like weed and red wine. ‘The Same Mistake Again’ is a mid-tempo song with a 90s’ vibe and a straight forward bass line that strengthens the chorus, emphasizing the concept of somebody repeating the same mistake in a sick relationship. If The Beach Boys, McCartney, Syd Barrett, Robert Fripp and Darth Vader were mixed in a blender the result would sound like ‘Miles Check Out’, while ‘Bright Spark’ could have been easily included on any Wildhearts album if only an extra distortion would have been added to the mix.
A beautiful piano introduces the maddening ‘Deep Breath’; the lyrics here are pretty cool (“hard wired for helpess, trapped by their own defences”) and they haunt you till a moodswing kicks in. Some sort of disco/new wave atmosphere arrives with ‘Bricks From The Wall’, yet the prog poppy feel colours the melodies, so is the case of ‘Optimum Delirium’. I feel so identified with the words in ‘Push Repeat’, a good reminder of how messed up life in the digital era is, a classic tale of the 21st Century… and how satanic Mr Zuckerberg is, at least The Dowling Poole can describe all these bs with happy melodies and a sense if irony. The album closes with ‘The Hand Moved’, an introspective look at hidden (or not so hidden) powers fucking us all.
Don’t be an ass and go buy this gem. ‘Nuff said.
- ‘Refuse’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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