THE DANDELION METHOD. (self-titled)
produced by the Dandelion Method
mastered by Mark Guenther
art by Sarah Heng Hartse
THE SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR DREAMS
As we sleep, the night corrals our dreams. One by one he warily drives them to their pens. But occasionally, some nighttime reverie slips free. Then, in a rare hallowed moment, our consciousness can sneak peeks at a fascinating new world, a world so mesmerizing it can only be marred by the inevitable alarm clock buzz of morning.
But don't let daytime get you down. The newest album from The Dandelion Method casts a net deep into the sea of our dreams and somehow extracts the musical equivalent of that idyllic waking moment. The band explains that their self-titled sophomore album is "a picture of where we have been the past two years..." Perhaps, but really the album is too familiar, as if the band sifted through our personal dreamscapes in order to produce this precise blend of guitar, voice, drum, and keys.
Like a dream, there's a certain delicateness to The Dandelion Method. Rather than standard rock n' roll fare, we find glistening dewdrops suspended in some lucky Charlotte's embroidered web. The layered instruments build tension, collide, and then suddenly dissolve in quiet a cappella harmonies. Though it hardly seems fitting to describe an album laced with crashing guitars and rapid drum beats as delicate, these recent university graduates have concocted a paradoxical hybrid of well-choreographed ballet and hole-in-the-wall jam. The album suggests that there may finally be two ways to keep dreaming well into the workday: either unplug your alarm or make room in the web for The Dandelion Method.
Andrew David
August 2004
Personnel:
Nathan Conant - keys, Matt Basinger - guitar, Kevin Davis - guitar, Andrew Best - bass guitar, trombone, theremin, Joel Hartse - drums
Press:
SPLENDID E-ZINE:
"The Dandelion Method are bursting at the seams with boisterous energy and an infectious sense of adventure. Their songs reach in fifteen different directions at once, but not due to lack of focus; these kids can't seem to let their songs rest until they've tried them on with every musical outfit in their wardrobes, because it's fun. That's almost reason enough to enjoy their debut album.
Most of these tunes follow a clear formula: they explore a mild indie-pop melody for a verse or two, then bring in the heavy guitar crunch, Ben Folds-style piano balladry, Polvo-flavored instrumental chaos, Beach Boys-style vocal layering and a dash of King Crimson prog spazz for good measure. From a songwriting standpoint, this kind of thing seldom works, but in The Dandelion Method's context, the enthusiasm is genuine and the songs are legitimately charming. "Fabric"'s soft pop would probably work fine from start to finish, but with these kids it somehow takes a side-trip into a Chick Corea-fied piano breakdown, then moves straight into a minute-long piano/guitar duel. They briefly rediscover the tune's opening poppy guitar line, but by then they're ready to move on to another song.
'Thats' the sort of textured and angular pop that The Dandelion Method does best, and it's a shame that they don't play it straight more often, as they do on "Grey Skies". Of course, if they did that, they'd lose the joyous sense of musical exploration that carries the rest of the album." - Phillip Stone
"The Dandelion Method plays the type of bittersweet indie-pop that can give a listener chills."-- Ryan Pangilinan, www.nevergetoveryou.net
"Sounds, strings and vocals flow and blend into tight melodies as five musicians bear their souls in honest, real, articulate words..." -- Robin King, the Falcon Newspaper
"One of the best songs on the CD is titled "Sleepcrash." The song is lyrically simple but sweet. It says, "I don't mind waking up to find your arm is draped over mine."
Although the lyrics revolve around the mundane act of falling asleep and awakening the following morning, the music behind the words is what truly makes "Sleepcrash" a great song. The guitars on this song create an incredible melody." -- Nicole Tajima, The Falcon
"You get the impression that this group of college kids just decided to pick up a bunch of instruments and see what came of it. In this case,something rather cool happened....There is a definite emphasis on musical interplay but also on vocal harmonizing. The band enjoys performing and carries themselves as though they have something important to say, even when they don't." -- Tablet Magazine
Recommended if you like: Appleseed Cast, Pedro the Lion, Phish, Ben Folds Five
Read more...