By Jim Rowland
Hailing from Dortmund, Germany, three-piece Daily Thompson have a passion for the grunge and alt-rock sound of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. No surprise then that new album ‘Glue’ was recorded in Seattle with American producer Tony Reed.
Indeed, the influence of the bands that emerged from the Seattle grunge scene, as well as a few others from the same era, looms large over ‘Glue’. The most notable from those “others” is Sonic Youth, with new single ‘BTK’ oozing the influence of Sonic Youth from every pore. With bassist Mercedes Lalakakis-Bee handling the lead vocal on this track, it is so reminiscent of a Sonic Youth track with Kim Gordon at the helm, it’s spooky.
Similarly, with vocalist and guitarist Danny Zaremba at the helm, ‘Workout’ and ‘Lovebugs’ are heavily indebted to the Sonic Youth sound.
Dinosaur Jr is another influence that seeps through, especially on the up-tempo album opener ‘Heart Of Bones’, whilst the impressive and lengthy ‘Chains’ is firmly rooted in Seattle, with echoes of several of those bands here, particularly Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
With a sound so indebted to the sound of that era and location, it’s inevitable the spirit of Nirvana will spring up too, as is the case on ‘Here I Stand’ and ‘SIAM’.
Daily Thompson are clearly a band that wear their influences brazenly on their sleeves, and a lot of this is eerily evocative.
But taken as a whole, ‘Glue’ is an impressive and enjoyable listen if you dig that classic grunge/alt-rock era of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
- ‘Glue’ will be released on Friday (21 August).
- Daily Thompson will tour the ÜK in October.
