“Jesus”
from the EP Sun Bronzed Greek Gods
2010
iTunes
For all intents and purposes this review started out focusing solely on Dom’s musical output. A review that left the “meta” aspects out of the equation. But here I am, using the ridiculous/awesome music video for “Living in America” and the equally ridiculous and possibly fictitious Pitchfork interview as anchor points. But, if Dom had their way, this is all we would talk about. Forming in January of this year, Dom’s Sun Bronzed Greek Gods EP still challenges us to weigh content against exposition, even with its incredible knack for melody and its appropriation of the sounds of other recent buzz bands (see: Girls, MGMT) into the group’s fractious post-modern blend of eighties New Romantics, nineties power-pop, and 2009’s chillwave.
Although it was released on cassette earlier this year, it’s probably safe to say that Sun Bronzed Greek Gods will be consumed digitally more often than not. Even though it comes sans packaging to most of us, it comes with more metaphysical “packaging” than any release I can think of this year. First, we will take up the “Living in America” song and music video. “Living in America,” if you haven’t seen it yet, transcends your typical hipster cynicism or unmoored positivist polemics, and takes up the uncool position of being totally gay for America. This isn’t even the Obama-induced euphoria that took much of the indie world by storm; this is a celebration of all the things that can make we Americans so obnoxious. Freedom means to “Ski in the winter, ride your bike in the summer,” without worrying about the social justice ramifications of outsourced production to third world countries, depleting mineral resources, etc, that are built into every mountain bike. Dom isn’t trying to be Lee Greenwood here; he is just trying to show the world that in America we can do some pretty dope shit. This is totally sincere, and in some 22-year-old’s pipe dream, the “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” guaranteed by the constitution. So, “forget all you haters, USA is for lovers.”
Our second level of packaging to wade through is what Dom actually says about himself. If you were alive last year you probably read all about Girls back story via a now legendary interview with The Guardian UK. Now, in an equally memorable interview with Pitchfork, lead singer Dom (last name withheld) waxes nostalgic about growing up in foster homes and spending time in jail for assault; he boasts about the group’s song “Bochicha” being played before the opening face-off for their hometown hockey team, the Worcester Sharks (totally untrue), and talks about their ambitions to write animated porno-musicals and get signed by Lil Wayne. The most frustrating thing about the interview is the way Dom circles, but never fully addresses, why people even care about this band in the first place. It is frustrating because the album is so good.
Dom passes off the seven songs as “something we pooped out.” Do you see what I mean when I say that I wish I could address the music at face value? But if Dom thinks they are shit, why should I bother to engage them on a higher level? I can’t help it, with all the faux-modesty-as-arrogance aside, there are moments of undeniable pop brilliance on each song. “Living in America” is catchy as hell, but doesn’t have the staying power of their first proper single, “Burn Bridges.” “Burn Bridges” starts with a synth line that hasn’t been heard since Wang Chung’s soundtrack to William Friedkin’s classic ’80s film To Live and Die in L.A..
“Jesus,” which addresses chemical and emotional dependence as temporary salvation, is the first track to showcase the five-piece as a cohesive band and not simply an extension of the titular Dom’s ego. A positively driving guitar hook, fuzzed-out in an echo chamber of reverb, opens the song before propulsive live drumming lock the track into the power pop of eighties new romantics. The two mid-tempo slowburners “Hunny” and “I Wonder” close out the album, showcasing intricacies that belie not only the lackadaisical approach Dom take to making music, but also the brief amount of time they have been together. Keyboards, handclaps, and twin tracked guitar lines are deeply embedded in the analog hiss, only making their presence known after repeated listens.
Dom are almost too good for their own well being. It would be so easy to throw this off as overhyped junk (even if 99 percent of the world hasn’t heard it) if the music itself, the thing that I am supposed to write about, wasn’t so catchy and exciting, even downright astute. It is going to be interesting to see what Dom can do without their eyes closed and while actually trying.