“Yellow Datsun”
from the album The Hate Yourself Change
2005
iTunes
Track the extensive vocal lineage of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, and the bastard descendant of the two would be Neva Dinova’s Jake Bellows.
Buckley’s influence is prominent in artists such as Jimmy Gnecco of Ours, while Kent’s Joakim Berg and Muse’s Matthew Bellemy have mastered Yorke impressions.
Yet Bellows is the first to strike a perfect balance between Buckley’s intensely cathartic, bittersweet howl and Yorke’s detached, atmospherically brooding voice.
And his Nebraskan quintet compliments this concurrence flawlessly on the band’s sophomore album.
With lush choruses and paroxysmal guitars during “Ahh,” the acoustic folk ditty “Yellow Datsun” which fills its gaps with aquatic sound effects, and the upbeat “She Can’t Change” with guitars that would make Johnny Marr smile, Neva Dinova masks its morose undertones just enough to stay appealing.
Even the uber-depressing “I’ve Got a Feeling,” with repetitive lyrics “The world’s a shitty place/ I can’t wait to die,” somehow doesn’t seem that bad once Bellows laughs “Just kidding world/ You know I love you.”
But his apparent depression would make his ancestors proud.