Party Dolls – “Love Wars Baby”

Party Dolls are actually a combination of members from a number of other bands which is quite unusual. This includes label mates The District Attorneys and Tedo Stone and also features members of Moths, Ruby the Rabbitfoot and Archers of Loaf side project Crooked Fingers. It is therefore, quite a mix of bands and influences. They have only been together as Party Dolls for twelve months so this album has been created and released in a pretty quick time.

It’s the title track “Love Wars Baby” which begins the album, with a gentle and serene opening. It then builds in to an anthemic, summer sounding song, a theme which features through the entire album. It has a bright and breezy feel with some great vocals. This continues on “Kindly Leave” which provides a nice adult pop opening pair. We see this repeated on the album, where “After June”, as the title suggests, is one of the sunniest songs on this release. It has a great warm sound and is delivered in a relaxed manner. Whilst on “You Let Me Know” there are more crashing guitars to wake you from your day dream. “Indigo” also adds a bit more of an indie rock feel to it. The female co-vocals in particular, are really effective and give it an almost American Wannadies feel to it. The more up beat sound is repeated on “Sides” which is a Crowded House style adult pop song.

In contrast, “I’m Not The One You Love” is a slower, ballad esque, power pop number which is in the style of a Brendan Benson singer/songwriter song. Then “Fire Cracker” is a simple singer and his guitar song with a really sparse sound. The album itself ends with “Sweetheart Moon” which is a sing a long, anthemic song. It has the feel of an old country folk song which would be sung by a crowd of people on a back porch, at the end of a scorching hot day.

This is really an album which should be released in the Summer. It has some beautiful songs which slowly infect your sub conscious. The song’s melodies are subtle but still enticing. It would be best enjoyed when you want to be relaxed and chilled, preferably with a nice long drink.