The Lonelyhearts' Dispatch is a phenomenal album. If you read no futher - do grasp that. Given the name of the band, the album cover - a bare floored but sunlit room complete with a bed all a mess - and track titles that include "sell the house, the car, the kids... I'm not coming back" - you likely shouldn't expect the next wave of electronic new wave to fill the air around you when putting the needle to this record. Then you get to the music and lyrics - the broken heart of the matter and you begin to realize this is an album of despair, setbacks and minor / major downfalls.. . just as the images and titles hinted at.
Two guys - John Lindenbaum and Andre Perry - from the SF,CA area are responsible for the emotion and effort on Dispatch, their second release (note: find debut album immediately). Hints of Black Strawberries-era Unbunny, the Kingsbury Manx (with a shot of sadness) and Neil Young (the acoustic style and the vocals at select times are spot on; see: "Patriot Axe") are all here for human absorption - all here fleshed out and realized in eleven songs that are bound by a common structure of loss. Example? See "Seasons Past": "I waited for you at Macy's / I sat with Santa Claus / I asked him for presents / He said I was old and lost" - Christ, that's some seriously sad shit, right? Imagine those lines being about a grown man and it gets infinitely poetic. Hand-stitched with minimal percussion, a couple of blue guitars, sparse synth and brief moments of studio ambiance/texture - The Lonelyhearts have forged an album that may have emerged from nowhere but will be kept company with repeated listens and an evangelical mission to get it heard. "Sherrif have you seen my boy?", a line from "Halo", the tale of (I gather) a father attempting to find his lost son reminds me of why I first fell for Al James of Dolorean and his lyrical imagery - The Lonelyhearts share this gift of chilling storytelling.
What I mean to say is Dispatch is a phenomenal album (see the start) that should be thoroughly enjoyed with the albums gifted lyrics in one hand and a deep, 90+ proof bottle in the other. The only time this album should be allowed to gather dust is when I die and fail to will it out to my lover.. . sad songs are (still) my new friends.
Two guys - John Lindenbaum and Andre Perry - from the SF,CA area are responsible for the emotion and effort on Dispatch, their second release (note: find debut album immediately). Hints of Black Strawberries-era Unbunny, the Kingsbury Manx (with a shot of sadness) and Neil Young (the acoustic style and the vocals at select times are spot on; see: "Patriot Axe") are all here for human absorption - all here fleshed out and realized in eleven songs that are bound by a common structure of loss. Example? See "Seasons Past": "I waited for you at Macy's / I sat with Santa Claus / I asked him for presents / He said I was old and lost" - Christ, that's some seriously sad shit, right? Imagine those lines being about a grown man and it gets infinitely poetic. Hand-stitched with minimal percussion, a couple of blue guitars, sparse synth and brief moments of studio ambiance/texture - The Lonelyhearts have forged an album that may have emerged from nowhere but will be kept company with repeated listens and an evangelical mission to get it heard. "Sherrif have you seen my boy?", a line from "Halo", the tale of (I gather) a father attempting to find his lost son reminds me of why I first fell for Al James of Dolorean and his lyrical imagery - The Lonelyhearts share this gift of chilling storytelling.
What I mean to say is Dispatch is a phenomenal album (see the start) that should be thoroughly enjoyed with the albums gifted lyrics in one hand and a deep, 90+ proof bottle in the other. The only time this album should be allowed to gather dust is when I die and fail to will it out to my lover.. . sad songs are (still) my new friends.
Perfect!
Lonelyhearts Space
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1 comment:
i don't know why i felt the need to comment on another freaking late review of this album
they've just done a daytrotter session
and dispatch is my favorite album of all time
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