Lost And Gone Forever

Dream The Electric Sleep

Independent release, 2011

http://www.dreamtheelectricsleep.com

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/20/2011

Ever wondered what might have happened if Rush and Pink Floyd had joined forces around 1976 to make a concept album about a lovelorn 19th century Kentucky coal miner? 

Yeah, well, I don’t think many people have… 

Indie prog quartet Dream The Electric Sleep are clearly the exception, though, and damned if they don’t seem to make a pretty good case. Taking the gold rush folk ballad “Oh My Darling Clementine” as their stepping-off point, DTES weaves the essential thread of the hard life of a miner and his wife into the 77-minute concept album Lost And Gone Forever.

The band—Matt Page (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Tackett (bass), Joey Waters (drums, harmony vocals) and Trevor Willmott (guitar)—also pull off the rare feat of making a two-guitar no-keyboards lineup work in a prog setting.  Alex Head guests on keyboards, adding subtle textures here and there, but the focus is on guitar and more guitar—loud/soft, soft/loud, fuzzed/sharp, acoustic/electric, etc.

The album kicks off in fine Floydian style with a swirling fog of found sounds and radio play voices resolving gradually into the title track, a rather stately overture for the album. It and sophomore track “Coal Dust And Shadows” offer homages aplenty to my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250 Farewell To Kings-era Rush, with syncopated background riffs layered with keening vocals, shifting dynamics and sharp variations in guitar tone from section to section. “Canary” adds shimmery electric tones, paired with a little bit of banjo for flavor and rustic authenticity. Around 3:35, Page moves into some rather Bono-esque vocal gymnastics that suit the song well, carrying it through a soaring second half to a huge crescendo at 6:20 that sinks down to reveal the banjo riding the melody out to the fade. A very strong track.

“The Joneses” introduces an edgier, more modern feel in the early stages, before the song shifts from aggressive in the first two-minutes to sludgy, bombastic riffing, before dropping back to an airy middle section which soon adds the sludginess on top.  Rush meets Black Sabbath?  “Roots And Fear” combines complex rhythm section with the album’s poppiest vocals, leaving the song feeling like a careening bumper car; it’s melodious but slightly disjointed as well.

In the second half, the boys again pile on the Rushisms. “Stay On The Line” offers Geddy-esque aggressive bass work (note especially the break at 1:50 and subsequent verse), while “Hold Steady Hands” delivers spot-on Geddy vocal dynamics in the opening section. “This Is This” features strong riffing, melodic chorus vocals, and energetic, airy dynamics in the fifth and sixth minute that feel like a Rush-U2 mindmeld.

Influences aside, the introductory section of “Sundown” exemplifies what these guys do best, which is create tension in one section of music before releasing that tension with a fresh time signature and tone. And “No Air Left” adds a nice change of pace, opening with twin acoustics and unison vocals.

By the time this 77-minute album winds down—there are 14 tracks, most of them between five and eight and a half minutes—things inevitably start to blur together a bit. That said, this listening experience made the idea of Bono and The Edge supplying the music for a Broadway musical sound a lot more plausible than it did when I started. There’s something about the sky-large musical persona of a U2 or a Rush (or a Dream The Electric Sleep) that makes this feels like a surprisingly good fit.

However odd a choice its subject matter might seem, Lost And Gone Forever turns out to be an excellent showcase for a quartet with much promise.  With this ambitious debut, Dream The Electric Sleep show not just courage and conviction, but a great deal of skill in both the framing and the execution of a sprawling, dynamic, fully-realized concept album.

Rating: B+

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


Comments

 








© 2011 Jason Warburg and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Independent release, and is used for informational purposes only.