Debut by the new American acid~trip-hop gloom trio of Sarah Marcogliese (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Gabriel Ratliffe (drums, keyboards, vocals), and Ryan Policky (keyboards, vocals, guitar, bass), full of gloomy (though not suicidal), angular, electronics-driven songs. I've seen the term shoegazer tossed around in reference to DTF, and while I do have an idea, I don't particularly care for that label — as with techno and trance, there is an overabundance of needless sub-subgenre prompting going on in alt-rock. What I do hear are elements of The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Lush, Clan Of Xymox, and Radiohead distilled into twelve reasonably involving songs.
Marcogliese's voice is sufficiently sensuous, and the synths — probably Korgs and Rolands, played by all three — seem fairly high-end. The drumming is either electronic or programmed, too, mostly straight beats, but that's exactly what fits when catering to the sum of the parts. The Cocteau equation figures into tracks like "Nevermind" and "Edge Of The Universe," which are two of the best. "Hot Upstairs" is a cogent instrumental of dense string pads and ethereal textures slashed by a jagged bass sound.
"As Lonely As They Come" is a semi-operatic styled number that utilizes Marcogliese's pipes accordingly. "Goodbye" has single written all over it by way of down-to-earth lyrics, acoustic guitar strumming and a vocal performance in the grey area between Norah Jones and Dolores O'Riordan; that song and the succeeding instrumental, "Gordon" — three minutes of ambient drones and a nifty sequenced drum pattern a la DJ Shadow — are tributes to the late Scot Gordon, a producer and friend of the band's. Drop The Fear is self-released, but at this rate (and since they play live frequently enough) I can see the trio being picked up.
P.S. The photography is gorgeous, especially the back cover.
Tracklist:
1. Nevermind 4:49
2. Murnau 3:54
3. When Memory Fails 4:04
4. Natural Law 4:24
5. Long Way From Home 5:17
6. Edge Of The Universe 4:01
7. Hot Upstairs 4:33
8. As Lonely As They Come 5:12
9. Goodbye 4:42
10. Standing Still 3:23
11. Gordon 3:25
12. Sloan 4:46
Total time – 52:38
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
