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Building a Better
Me
Dogwood |
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This is without a doubt the coolest cover booklet I've ever seen. It's modeled after the pages of an old novel with faded pages, chapter break illustrations and rustic… smell. Believe me you can tell without putting it up to your nose… but try to resist it anyway. Okay, but besides the alluring cover, Dogwood's follow up to last year's "More Than Conquerors" finds them pulling in the reigns a little bit tighter this time, still pronounced, less noisily directed and a more efficient construct. In no way does this imply sell-out, superstardom, or an album full of folk tunes-as we immediately learn from the likes of "The Good Times," a raucous encounter with a past life that made no effort to stand still; "Building a Better Me," illustrated by building blocks with each showing a body part and a be all you can be following bent on self-reflection; "Comes Crashing" is amongst the best of the record here. And there go the building blocks… actually they're bricks this time with some poor chap buried beneath… and might I say, welcome home fella. Again resuming the chafing guitar rhythms, trashy riffs, reverbed to the max and beyond, but as catchy and anthemic as anything they've yet done… let's tack on "Mycro" two songs later and we can quickly draw a conclusion that Dogwood's style is not far off from a hybrid of Bad Religion, NOFX, The Descendents, and much of the many Indie-drawn So. Cal Punk with a conscience types-Dogwood's tempered progress cannot go unnoticed in this relation. With songs as honest and sincere as they are magnified and loud, Dogwood's "Building a Better Me" shatters their work of the past without compromising the principles that have brought them this far-listen, learn, then lay down, after fifty five minutes of this, you'll be spent on all levels. Released by Tooth & Nail Records Review by Vinnie Apicella
[va85@columbia.edu] |