ALBUM REVIEWS
   
 

The Dears ‘No Cities Left’ (Bella Union)

 

If Chris Martin and his marker-daubed hand really want to Make Trade Fair, he could do worse than look at his own industry. One of the prime musical offenders in trade imbalance is Canada. This Anglophile nation has for years been soaking up the best that British music has to offer while exporting with devious glee the dregs that they themselves wouldn’t touch, much like Heineken used to do before we finally got to drink the fine beer the Dutch had been keeping to themselves for many years. Bryan to Ryan Adams, Shrieking Celine Dion, the high priestess of the English language Alanis Morissette (now that’s irony!) and those snot-nosed, stylised punk pop bands with numbers after their names – what have the Canadians ever done for us?

Well finally The Dears look like redeeming their entire nation with their superb album ‘No Cities Left’. Lead by song writer Murray Lightburn, The Dears have gorged themselves on the best of UK indie from The Smiths to Spiritualized and Teenage Fanclub, and regurgitated it back to us in a glorious mess of orchestral pop and high-brow rock. ‘Don’t Lose the Faith’ is like Morrissey singing with The Divine Comedy before the latter’s Neil Hannon became a chirpy man of the people. The two-parter ‘Expect the Worst/Cos She’s a Tourist’ is like Spiritualized at their most wistful and epic that’s followed by the roaring feedback intro of ‘Pinned Together, Falling Apart’. In short this is unashamedly high-brow pop music, arty and not afraid to show it either.

But this isn’t a simple case of UK indie in a Canadian accent. Lightburn is an intelligent artist and despite sounding very much like Damon Albarn, he imposes his own indelible stamp over everything. The album examines the state of the post-9/11 world and, as the title alludes to, finds a lot of apocalyptic despair and fear. But this isn’t like the Beastie Boys checking out to the people of New York City or the equally reactionary anti-politics of someone like Green Day. As ever, in the face of incomprehensible tragedy, hope is sought in love and unity, and amidst the terror comes a humane defiance. The dark tones of ‘Lost in the Plot’ melt into a gorgeous mantra “Don’t mess with our love”, while the brooding ‘Never Destroy Us’ finishes in a militant Bauhaus metal breakdown.

If you’ve ever thought that pop had lost its eloquence or the ability to deal with emotional depths, The Dears could change your mind.

words: Colm Larkin

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