Dot Dash "Half Remembered Dream" New Album Out Now

"Half-Remembered Dream" is the third Dot Dash album released in less than two years. This follows 2012's "Winter Garden Light and "spark>flame>ember>ash" which was released in September 2011, all on The Beautiful Music, the Ottawa based indie label that has been issuing underground pop records for more than 10 years. For the new album the Washington D.C. based quartet traveled north to neighboring Baltimore, where "Half-Remembered Dream" was recorded at Lord Baltimore Studios. As before, there’s a persistent thread of melancholy running through Dot Dash’s ringing, intense, melodic pop, but it takes on a variety of forms. Amidst jangling, wistful guitars, contrasted by often thunderous bass and drums, "Half-Remembered Dream" is, by turns, energetic, plaintive, and punky. Dot Dash play live frequently and has shared recent bills with Ash, The Drums, The Bats, The Monochrome Set, and Glen Matlock, among many others. I think this is my favourite of the three Dot Dash albums and I would thoroughly recommend it for lovers of intelligent, melodic and emotional guitar music. They have echoes of that wonderful late seventies/early eighties period of The Cure, Psychedelic Furs and Wire but mixed up with the beautifully textured and intricate guitar work of early R.E.M., Dream Syndicate and Long Ryders.

The Band line-up is: Terry Banks – guitar & voice; Bill Crandall – guitar; Hunter Bennett – bass; Danny Ingram – drums. "Half-Remembered Dream" is available as a CD directly from The Beautiful Music’s PayPal-enabled ordering site at www.thebeautifulmusic.com and is also available as a download via iTunes, Bandcamp, eMusic, and Amazon. You can check out more info on Dot Dash at their official Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/dotdashdc

Here's a taster from the album and the great opening track "(Here's to) The Ghosts of The Past"...

Dot Dash - Washington D.C. Post-Punk featuring ex-Swervedriver drummer

Dot Dash is a post-punk-pop band from Washington D.C.They cite their influences as The Jam, Joy Division or The Byrds…or perhaps appreciation for the ancient sounds of the Postcard, Whaam and early Creation labels…

Guitarist/singer Terry Banks and bassist Hunter Bennett were in punky power poppers Julie Ocean. Before that, Terry was in a bunch of jangly guitar bands, including The Saturday People, Tree Fort Angst, Glo-Worm and St. Christopher.

Guitarist Bill Crandall was in the mod/pop band Modest Proposal. Drummer Danny Ingram began musical life in Dischord-label punks Youth Brigade before moving on to Strange Boutique and later, U.K. guitar-wranglers Swervedriver.

Dot Dash plays shows, mostly around D.C. In the recent past they’ve opened for Urge Overkill, The Godfathers, The Trash Can Sinatras, The Chameleons and Hugh Cornwell from The Stranglers.

"spark>flame>ember>ash" is released by Canadian indie label The Beautiful Music.

There is something lurking underneath the songs on this album, something you feel is ready to burst out and go wild. Yet at the moment the tracks are all very taut and controlled, there's a minimalist almost oppressive feel to them. This works extremely well on some numbers but over 14 tracks it just feels that the lack of variety doesn't quite translate to an album's worth of material. If I'd heard this as a 4 track E.P. or say, 6 track Mini-album, I might have been blown away.

Dot Dash - Photo by Peter Muise

Singer Terry Banks has a voice that reminds me sometimes of Robert Smith and yet on "There And Back Again Lane" it's Richard Butler from the Psychedelic Furs but hang on, now it's Robert Forster with "That Was Now This Is Then", a track which could be from The Go-Betweens "Friends of Rachel Worth" album. Maybe it's this lack of a distinct character that doesn't quite lift the weaker material such as "No Reverie" and "A Straight Line", maybe it just needs some stronger backing vocals and harmonies, I'm not sure. 

Having said that, I'm featuring Dot Dash because there are some great moments that show the band are capable of writing some really memorable tunes particularly on "Learn How To Fly", which has a chorus that comes close to their 'band-name-influence' Wire's "Map Ref 41N 93W" or "Outdoor Miner". More songwriting of this quality could certainly elevate the band to another level. Then there's the rumbling bassline and discordant guitar lines of "Dissolve" which reflect a paranoid Pixies-like little gem.

"Tragedy/Destiny" and "I'm Going Home" have a warmer more melodic feel and have huge potential, but are both crying out for more prominent backing vocals to lift them to immediate, catchy hits.

Certainly a band I will be keeping an eye-out for though and I'd love to get the opportunity to see them live, to see how well those hidden little gems burst out!

For more information on Dot Dash please check out the band's Facebook page. The album can be bought directly from The Beautiful Music, Amazon or iTunes.