The Dears - 'Missiles' (Dangerbird) Released 27/10/08

The Dears were briefly a big deal back in 2003/4, a wave of hype that was seemingly generated more by lead singer Murray Lightburn’s apparent vocal resemblance to a Morrissey/Damon Albarn hybrid than the dramatically orchestrated songs featured on second album ‘No Cities Left’. There then followed – personally speaking - three years of disinterest, as if the band had just disappeared from the music world’s surface, until last years’ Bella Union celebrations at the Southbank Centre provided a welcome reminder that they actually never went anywhere and that I was more than a little silly for having completely missed the rather under-rated ‘Gang Of Losers’.

If that album was all about The Dears proving that if you take away the atmospherics and relative density of sound a solid guitar-pop band would still be left standing, then ‘Missiles’ has taken a whole different tack entirely: back is the non-conventional approach to arrangements and the sense of something bigger being slowly unfurled track-by-track. Unfortunately this return to the sound that first brought The Dears notice is accompanied by an overriding feeling that nothing quite sticks this time around, an emotional connection that was once renowned as being amongst the strongest in alternative rock lost amongst a whole lot of bluster. First single ‘Money Babies’ begins like some bastard child of Radiohead’s ‘Bodysnatchers’, all picked bass and handclaps before collapsing on itself in a mess of vocoders and speaker distortion. There’s no thread or logic linking these ideas and the result is quite embarrassing to listen to.

Opener ‘Disclaimer’ also highlights the record’s problems, a saxophone closer in sound to elevator jazz and the repetitive horribly overdubbed cries of “come back” killing any attempt at momentum. The following ‘Dream Job’ is another exercise in tasteful minimalism that’s just too safe to do anything for the listener, the Bowie-esque excursion for the last minute an initially surprising diversion that ultimately feels tacked on. It’s key line, “I’m sick of playing the blues”, is a recognition that in fact such an approach are where The Dears’ strength lies, as highlighted on ‘Berlin Heart’. The strongest track on ‘Missiles’, Murray’s vocals here are pleasingly direct, and despite the band’s best intentions to splatter their own canvas with some nauseating flute it works. Elsewhere there are a few moments that stand out, like the celestial closing minutes of ‘Meltdown In A Major’ or Natalia’s central performance on ‘Crisis 1 & 2’, but they’re lost amongst the general indulgency elsewhere.

Sometimes it’s not the ambition but the execution that really counts. Unfortunately for The Dears the last twelve months have seen records from the likes of Radiohead, Elbow and TV On The Radio all trading in similar progressive territories with a great degree more fluency, intuition and conviction than demonstrated on ‘Missiles’. From a band that was once great this is a tired and deeply disappointing effort.