Dot Dash “Searchlights”

Dot Dash have been around for a few years now and have an impressive back catalogue of albums, with “Searchlights” being their most recent release. They certainly have an interesting history, with the band members being from diverse backgrounds. Their previous bands covered lots of different musical styles including, hardcore, indie-rock and mod.

First song “Dumb Entertainment” kind of lives up to it’s title, it’s a simple but great indie rocker, not particularly clever but good fun. Along with “Lonely Serenade” and “Searchlights”, there is the sense that this is just a band with US indie rock sensibilities delivering short, sharp, dashes of fun.

However, the album has a heart that many other bands just don’t deliver. “Crumbs” is a lower key number but also has a pop feel that gives it an almost ‘Brit Pop’ sound. Indeed, along with “10,000 days”, “The Infinite” and “Summerlite” you will be taken back to the days of brilliant indie discos and when you’d discover a great new indie pop single every week.

However, unlike many of the bands of that time, this isn’t just a case of a few choice singles, Dot Dash deliver a whole album of quality songs. A track like “Woke Up Saturday Night” would have seen them gracing the cover of Select or NME (when it was a respectable music mag!). And you will find it hard to resist the pop melody of “Holly Garland”. This isn’t just whimsical pop though, tracks like “Daddy Long Legs” and “Fading Out” have a real kick to them.

This album has come as a pleasant surprise. Yeah, there’s plenty of Weezer flavoured punk power pop, but it offers a lot more than many of the bands peddling that type of sound. Indeed, you get the sense that Dot Dash aren’t just following a template for what makes a band ‘cool’ but instead just creating a collection of great indie pop songs…. which ironically, is exactly what does make them cool!