Featuring three members of Wildhoney, Dummy make music that satisfies that dream-pop itch. That said, the tunes here are far closer to those of Stereolab than they are to anything else. The band's debut EP, Dummy, drops today digitally, and today's the day to buy it on Bandcamp.
"Angel's Gear" whirs like Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements-era 'Lab, as does the more languid "Avant". "Slacker Mask" opens with a drum-beat off of an old Joy Division side before it soars off into the ether, even as "Folk Song" mixes a folk-guitar up with Nico-like vocals. The cut is an eerie one, but it's also a bit more distinctive than the other numbers here in terms of style.
But even with me saying that, I loved this EP. While the epic closer "Touch the Chimes" is abstract and nearly ambient, the other four cuts on this release are, like the music of contemporaries Peel Dream Magazine, the closest thing we're going to get to 1993-era Stereolab again. Count that as a rave review.
Dummy by Dummy is out today via the link below. Physical copies forthcoming.
[Photo: Dummy]