Several weeks ago I reluctantly promised to listen to and review Don’t Know Dorothy’s Ep, Above My Head. But any doubts I had were quickly dispelled listening to the first, title track to the album (Do people other than me still use vinyl-centric language?) as a simple guitar melody was taken over by a much more driving beat that promptly raised the bar for the rest of the recording.
As a whole, Above My Head has a good blend of fast and slow songs giving it a sense of completeness that makes it worth listening to the whole thing together. My son immediately took to the slightly retro feel of the music and I was reminded of a number of artists that probably stopped playing music before these guys were born. Despite the conscious or unconscious influence of an earlier era of music, Don’t Know Dorothy comes through as completely fresh, original music with a distinct sound.
Right out of the gate, Above my head felt like a mix of Ben Harper and Matthew Sweet achieving a good beat with bass and drums wrapping around the vocals and itchy guitar riffs. Where’s the Love, Whatever Comes and It’s You maintain the sense of retro pop-rock and keep up a good pace. Finally, Down the Road finishes the EP with a ballad tone recalling some of the playfulness of Squeeze but at a much more relaxed tempo.
Altogether, Above my Head is an excellent debut album and I expect to see much more from Don’t Know Dorothy over the next several years as they find their fan base and continue to grow.
DownHouseSoftware 