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Artist: The Dalloways

Album: Penalty Crusade

Publication: Diskant

Category: Review

Writer: Simon Minter

Date: 12/31/2005

Website: http://www.diskant.net/

Review Link: http://www.diskant.net/reviews/2005/12/dalloways-penalty-crusade-bird-in-box.htm

Smooth-edged melodic independent pop music of the kind which America seems so proficient, this CD is almost defiantly removed from the ongoing vogue for violent, aggressive and dissonant underground music. The eleven tracks on the album chime and twinkle, with upbeat, clean guitar lines skipping across soft drum patterns at odds with the wistful and heartfelt vocals. This music evokes bands of a different era - McCarthy, the Pale Fountains, even Felt - but it is of course timeless. At times the addition of synths, brass and spoken word can bring things to a fearfully glossy place, but at the same time I can't fail to love the simplicity and purity of a band like this. There will always be many such bands producing pure pop music, but this one has a grasp of melody, arrangement and brevity which helps them to poke out above the crowd.