New Hope #2

I'm not very good at keeping up the momentum here. I was hoping to do a blog a day. Ambitious.

New Hope #2


I am definitely a sucker for singers who are also mad dancers. I don't want them to be particularly good at dancing or to take it really seriously. But you get some bands with singers who have just perfected their own unique and extraordinary style. In the same way that Jonathon Pierce, lead vocalist of the Drums, grabbed my attention with his remarkable shapes, Duncan Wallis of Manchester band Dutch Uncles left me flabergasted as he performed his fantastically jerky and awkward routine. I first saw Dutch Uncles supporting Bombay Bicycle Club at the Liverpool Academy in December 2009 and enjoyed them a lot without noticing any stand out tracks. I kind of forgot about them for about a year until I saw an advert for a gig at the Shipping Forecast in February of this year.

In that time little changed, not least the dancing, but I had listened to a few tracks so was able to get more involved in the gig. They have now released an album called Cadenza. It's quite hard to get into but once past the prickly exterior it is a really enjoyable album. Their brand of sharp, spiky, off beat pop appears often constructed to a scientific degree and this does not aid its accessibility. However, they have a surprising propensity to mould catchy melodies which jump out at you when you least expect them to.

There are two reasons why I am so fascinated by this band. Firstly, they are not synth based. It seems every new band has to be electro influenced or synth filled and it's really boring. I know all those years ago in the mid noughties there was a horrible deluge of skinny four-piece guitar bands all trying to look like the Pigeon Detectives. It was not a good time. But I really wish the backlash had not been so thorough. Dear record Labels, please stop turning guitar bands into electro bands.

Secondly, Dutch Uncles are not what you might consider conventionally cool. It is hard to tell whether they are deliberately trying to appear geekish or if that is actually them. I hope it is just their natural style. I love this because it gives us all hope. It makes me think that, you know, if they can be cool then why can't I? I think it is similar to the connection that people felt with Morrissey when he wrote about everyone hating him. He was a nerd too but people thought he was cool. Dutch Uncles are a perfect antidote to the disgusting plague of macho, gobbing, greasy bands that are so synonymous with their home city.

Right I ought to pipe down and let you listen to them. I hope you like them. This is the title track from their new album. I think it is just brilliant. Please also look out for Duncan's dancing. I often catch myself trying to recreate those moves in my bedroom. So enjoy that mental image too.

Creedence.