I was out of the country for a couple weeks recently, and as a result I missed the release date of my most anticipated album, Dirty on Purpose’s Hallelujah Sirens. But as a result I’ve had a bit more time to soak it in, and to get past my initial overly-high expectations. Its a good album, and the songwriting is top notch. The lack of a strong vocalist within the group is obvious, and somewhat disappointing, but I’ve come to terms with this being the band as it is, and the sound that they’ve developed, so I won’t continue to pick at that. In my mind (or rather, headphones) the guitar work definitely makes up for any vocal shortcomings. The recording quality is solid, and the each track is enhanced by full-on production treatment. By the way, the inside jacket has a Crooked Rain-styled alternate tracklist scrawled in there, and the jury is still out on which ordering of the songs is better.
Many of the songs had been debuted in their live show and on Coleen’s radio show, and live versions were posted as well. They posted a demo of “Light Pollution” on their website back in October, but the final version sounds much better. My favorite part is 2:30 or so in, when it calms down a bit and they say “We just couldn’t stand to stay here in this town, anymore.” I swear that could have been my theme song for moving out of NYC if they had played it before I left. “Your Summer Dress,” “Marfa Lights,” and even “Monument” are all vastly improved, and are among the better tracks. I think the horns on “No Radio” might be overkill, but they give it this feel reminicent of Chisel’s Set You Free in terms of being a big jump in production quality and overall ambition. While the first half of the album seems to pick up where the EP left off, the second half has a slower, more experimental feel, that actually reminds me more of The Meeting Places or early Blonde Redhead than their own prior work. Basically I like all 10 tracks with the exception of “Car No Driver,” which has a campy Yo La Tengo feel. Maybe others will like it for that same reason. I guess that “Your Summer Dress” and “Light Pollution” are the hits of the album, but “Fake Lakes” is the standout for me. It feels familiar, but also seems so uniquely Dirty on Purpose. Thank dog they finally came out with an album.
: Dirty on Purpose – Light Pollution :
: Dirty on Purpose – Fake Lakes :
: Dirty on Purpose – Light Pollution (youtube video) :
[...] And yes, it’s official: 4 out of 5 new bands that I like have animals in the name. So the next band that comes along that is ‘hippopotamus’ something has my full support. [...]