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Artist: The Dalloways

Album: Penalty Crusade

Publication: Planet of Sound

Category: Review

Writer: Jesse Rivera

Date: 01/10/2005

Review Link: www.planetofsound.tk/news_reviews.php?subaction=showfull&id=1105355030&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&go=reviews

I have a little bit of a problem when an American Band from sunny California says their sound is Brit Pop. I mean maybe, maybe if they were from a more diverse part of California like lets say Los Angeles or San Francisco. But the Central Valley? No, way..Or can it be?

Just exactly what is Brit Pop and do we really need anymore bands claiming to have tapped into this well? Today I think Brit Pop and I think Oasis, okay maybe Travis, or ColdPlay two out of three aint band, right?

So I finally got tired of pondering what a band from Central California definition of Brit Pop could possibly sound like and I popped their new CD into my CD player and pressed play. I then picked up a book and began to read as I normally do when listening to something for the first time. Only problem is I never got to read one word. The minute I started listening to this CD it was like I had been sent back to the mid to late 80's. This was a time when almost every band I seemed to like had a moody laid back sound, and they all sounded like the Beatles when they talked.

The first artist who came to mind immediately was Morrisey. However Gerhard Enns sweet way of strumming the guitar reminded me oh so much of Robert Smiths style. How can you go wrong with a band who has the elements of two of the best singer songwrites of the 80's Brit Invasion?

Okay so if the sound is so familiar then why even listen to the Dalloways? Why not just take out your old copy of Disenigration and listen to that? Well because even though the sound is familiar what is going to set the songs on this album apart and give them the strength to stand by their own merits is the song writing, the lyrics. In a recent Interview when asked what influenced Gerhard song writing on this album here's what he had to say:

"Situations, other people and what they go through. Other times they're about fictional characters that I come up with, relationships and what not. Basically, my songs are influenced by fiction. A lot of fiction."

The Dalloways in a way are story tellers. Every song paints a diffenent picture and every picture as they say is worth a thousand words. They are influenced by everything around them and you can hear this in their music. It makes this album an album that is worth listening to. The musical arrangements rich and are so beautifully put together that I hear something new I like everytime I listen to this album.

I highly recommend this album. JR