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■ CD review
Band dials up British pop rock
influences for soulful album
The High Dials call from Canada with gentle, but still
rocking melodies on "War of the Wakening Phantoms"
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
It’s popular for some critics to de
ride popular music that they feel re
lies too heavily on sounds from the
past rather than creating something
that sounds new. This is remarkably
simple-minded and thoughtless.
Music is about recycling, from
which comes new innovations. Re
lying on sounds from the past is not
a new trend, especially in
rock. In the 1950s
rock drew from 1940s1'
R&B; 1960s rock drew1
from 1940s and 1950s1
electric blues and (lat-1
er) acoustic folk. Punk!
took from garage, which1
took from R&B. And the1
High Dials take from the!
Zombies on their new al-1
bum, “War of the Wakening!
Phantoms.” I hardly see this1
as a crime.
The High Dials is a Canadi-1
an group that is trying to make1
a place for itself in the American1
indie scene, and with this sort of!
heartfelt pop rock that doesn’t
seem like it will be a problem. The
group draws heavily from British
pop rock of the late 1960s, not to
mention a handful of American in
fluences. The Zombies, the Byrds
and a few other choice selections
come to mind, but there are few
duller critic games than listing influ
ences, so lets just say that these
guys are apparently drawing
inspiration from the right places to
make good music.
The music is slow to mid-tempo,
well-crafted and lyrical, using the
atmospherics of harmony to create
gentle melodies along rock songs
that are almost soothing, yet are still
distinctly rock.
Lead singer
TVevor Ander
son
bit of Thom
York operatics about
his voice, but the music does
n’t suffer from the moody self
possession of some Radiohead
sound-alikes.
Instead, the music is soulful and
occasionally uplifting in the best
pop rock tradition. While nothing
here matches the melodic or lyrical
sophistication of a truly amazing
modern pop rock group (say, The
Shins), it still shows a level of so
phistication missing from popular
pop music (as redundant and self
contradictory as that sounds).
The sounds here recall the music
of the 1960s in a way that is both
fresh and invigorating. No band has
shown this level of knowledge of
1960s pop and how to use it proper
ly since the Brian Jonestown Mas
sacre, and the High Dials are a
m,,/,h more consistent
group. While
there are obvi
ous highlights,
every single
song on this al
works.
“The Lost Explor
er” builds with
mch subtle mo
nentum that you
tardly notice it
ntil it peaks. “A
iver Haunting”
irprises with its
\V^
suuuen Liidnges in
tone while “Higher
and Brighter” is al
C°^ most perfect pop rock.
While the band still seems to be
developing, the direction they are
heading is the right one. The album,
though not one of the best of the
year, is certainly one of the most lis
tenable, and is a great piece of work
from a band destined to do much
better work. Or so we hope.
The High Dials will be performing
at Diablo’s Downtown Lounge on
July 31.
ryannyb urg@ dailyemerald. com
12S8m *
JULY 21
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