Album Review: Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
‘Dye it Blonde’, the sophomore album by Smith Westerns, starts as it means to go on. Forget the Bowie comparisons, they’re coming out of their shell here and doing it with a vengeance. My first listen to the album left me confused though: I couldn’t hear the stand-out tracks like in their self-titled effort. And where were the catchy, glittery pop choruses? Turns out this is another album that deserves a little more of your time. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
This time around, it is obvious the record hasn’t been self-produced, it’s a lot more refined for a start. The influence of Chris Coady (who has worked with Yeah Yeah Yeahs) is apparent from start to finish. The production is much improved and while everyone, including, me, enjoyed their first garage rock album, these songs needed sheen over them, the kind that Coady has given them. (Need evidence? Watch the video for ‘Weekend’ below.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmmLRt0p-fg[/youtube]
As I mentioned, there really are no stand-out tracks on this album; however, I do have a personal favourite in the shape of floaty acoustic number ‘Smile’. Throughout the album there is a theme of idol worship, like they are in love with and pining after idols David Bowie and John Lennon. So much that they even have a song ‘Imagine pt.3 ’ in tribute to the late Beatles hero.
I could ramble on for hours as to why I love this album so much, but if I did, I would just be stopping you from listening to it for longer. And I don’t think that’s fair at all, in all honesty. So I leave you with this: go out buy it, listen to it, listen again, enjoy again and again. You can thank me later.
9/10
Smith Westerns’s second album ‘Dye It Blonde’ will be released on 2 May on Domino Records’ Weird World imprint. The single for ‘Weekend’ is released a week prior, on 25 April. You can read John’s interview with Cullen Omori on this earlier TGTF post.
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