Dumb Numbers
II
(Joyful Noise Recordings)
The new Dumb Numbers album, II, is a plethora of guest appearances, melancholy and guitar/vocal effects. For forty-two minutes, founder Adam Harding and his collaborators orchestrate and arrange music within the spectrum of the alternative music world such as combing through dream-like landscapes of shoegaze and subsonic drone chords. Harding was not alone in this undertaking as he enlisted a quality arsenal of musicians such as Dale Crover (Melvins), Alexander Hacke (Einsturzende Neubauten) and fellow Aussie, Bonnie Mercer among other names to assist in the development of II.
Regardless of how many different styles are shown on this album, the one constant is how bleak and somber the songwriting arrangements are. Emotional and cinematic is the best way to describe this album with expressions of longing, love and loneliness being exhibited throughout the eight tracks. I say cinematic because both the way this album is produced and how it segues evokes the sensory experience one gets from watching a tragic silent film. Noted that Adam is a well-regarded videographer along with being a songwriter as his profession, he has found a way to blend the two professions into a hypnotizing, ethereal vision quest guided only by the minor key orchestrations coming from the album.
“Will You Earn A Star” and “Essence/Existence” are the heaviest hitters on this record, rock wise and the rest of the record touches more on the shoegaze, drone genre with perhaps the most depressing track being “No One”, a mellotron and string piece that elicits an atmosphere of despair and hopelessness in unison with the distant and chilling vocals from Adam. It is interesting listening to how his playing style interacts with the contributor’s styles. Don’t know if it is the Barlow effect (he’s not on the track) but “My Mantra” sounds like a doom metal version of a Dinosaur Jr, only the monk chanting and Crover’s signature frantic drumming breaking that comparison at the conclusion.
II is an unusual yet refreshing album, no song sounds the same and it is easy to get lost in the emotional aspects that begin with a sense of curiosity, flowing into discomfort until concluding with tranquil closure. Dumb Numbers will ring well with fans of Sonic Youth, Warpaint, Ride and Pale Saints; it is the wet dream for anyone who is an avid listener of alternative music’s subgenres.
