Review Summary: Indie, Alt-Rock, Folk and Post Rock combine for an excellent debut album by this young Australian band. Sophistication, energy, melody, musicality and personality are all on show, and the icing is fantastic harmonies.
Skinny Jean is a seriously offputting name. It made me dislike them before I'd even heard a note, thinking they would be yet another quirky, ironic indie-pop band. To some degree, this was supported by their 'single', Anhedonia, which is, well, a quirky, ironic indie-pop song, but it's not representative of the depth of their sophisticated, energetic and occasionally grandiose style. They're a young Brisbane band who have the talent to be big, but are yet to get noticed by the general public, which is refreshing for someone like myself who generally listens to popular, established artists. Frontman Shem Allen has a distinctive, hyperactive voice with a slight Jeff Buckley influence, but without the constant over-emoting, and he's supported by a gifted group of musicians, several of whom sing lead and harmonies.
The intriguingly named Dolce Doggerel starts with, of all thing, a short African-American traditional, which starts the album off in a lighthearted manner similar to the way the Fleet Foxes started their debut album. The first few songs are concise, catchy alt-pop numbers, with particular mention going to 'Anhedonia', which seems at first seems overly-complicated but is so damn fun and stands up to repeated listens. The tone of the album changes with 'Anti0kie', which is a real highlight with sophisticated dynamics, slightly dissonant chords, and a catchy minor melody. The lyrics are expressive, as Shem imagines himself as a vengeful, frustrated 'Okie' from John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath' with a chorus of 'We're gonna break the machine down/ Shoot the headlights out of the tractor/ That's ploughing lines right through my house/ Take that Mr Benefactor'.
From the Bad Seeds stomp of 'Army Wife' to the glorious 'A Blessing', the rest of the album follows in this vein; more expansive with regards to structure, more serious in tone, and showing off a tight rhythm section.The difference between Dolce Doggerel and their earlier EP is underlined by the aforementioned 'A Blessing', a solemn, powerful song I was definitely not expecting from Skinny Jean, and I'm interested to see how they would pull it off live without the post rock-meets-U2 (?) production that, amongst other things, makes the piano sound absolutely huge. It's a definite highlight though, utilising what seems to be a signature trick of building up and releasing without ever being totally anthemic, which makes it rather addictive.
Throughout Dolce Doggerel, the guitars provide much of the texture, meshing with the various post-rock tricks, and they retain enough rawness to be expressive without being overwhelming. The three main vocalists combine for some sublime harmonies, enhanced by the fact they have totally different vocal styles that somehow fit perfectly together, and the rhythm section is just fantastic. As a debut album from a pretty much unknown (goddam I feel indie right now) young Australian band, its damn impressive, and I hold out a lot of hope that they can only get better.
