Pray 4 Tomorrow

カナダ・ヴァンクーバーを拠点とするインディロック / ポストパンク・バンド、 DUMBの3RDアルバムがMINTよりCD / LPリリース! YO LA TENGOやDEVOからインスピレーションを得たギターの不協和音とドタバタしたドラムにTHE BEACH BOYS風のメロディが乗った"EXCUSE ME "、メロディアスなピアノのアウトロで最高潮に達するヘヴィなポストパンク"GIBBERISH "などなど、バンドが長年に渡って培ってきた独特のポストパンク・サウンドを体感できます!

Franco Rossino is pondering the endless loop that is his life in the song "Pull Me Up" when he says, too tired to really be angry, "Feels like nothing ever changes, pushing boulders, picking clovers, making bread." His frustration sounds so real and deeply felt that it takes a moment to remember that its also fictional. Rossino is the lead singer and guitarist with the Canadian indie rock band Dumb, and their third album, 2022s Pray 4 Tomorrow, had more than its share of songs about the travails of modern life. But the groups grand paradox is while they create convincingly dour characters, the angular energy of this music and the zeal with which its played stands in contrast to the lyrics, full of life and an undeniable scrappy joy. As on their first two albums (2018s Seeing Green and 2019s Club Nites), Dumb seem to revel in the fact that theyre obviously very smart, and they keep getting smarter each time out, without sounding pretentious or forcing the issues. Suggesting a cross between Pavement and the Embarrassment as fronted by Canadian grad students, Dumb are endlessly clever without seeming the least bit self-conscious about it. Though theyre not studied virtuosos, the guitar crosstalk from Rossino and Nick Short is elemental and exciting, while bassist Shelby Vredik and drummer Pipe Morelli hold it all together with frameworks that are sturdy, imaginative, and pleasing. Dumb are blessed with a wit thats effective but doesnt call attention to itself, and this bands gift for finding a glimmer of absurd laughter in the midst of the agonies of the modern world is as unexpected as it is welcome. Despite sometimes sounding as if theyre making this up as they go along, Pray 4 Tomorrow is too clever and too clearly relatable to not be the work of people who have smarts, heart, vision, and genuine humility. They even provide a lyrical bookend to "Pull Me Up" five tracks later, where an overscheduled working stiff clocks out with the well-earned words "Its all right, Im gonna sleep like a baby tonight." In their third round, Dumb easily maintain their status as one of North Americas most engaging indie rock acts, and Pray 4 Tomorrow sounds like their best work to date. ~ Mark Deming