Review: Dez Dare ‘CHERYL! Your Love Shines Down Like A Supernova’s Death’
Dez Dare, aka Darren Smallman, grew up in Geelong, a port city some 47 miles southwest of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. Dez has quite the musical history playing in the bands Warped (who supported some pretty prominent names including The Dirty Three, Cosmic Psychos, The Hard-ons, 5678s, Fugazi) Thee Vinyl Creatures and The Sound Platform. Furthermore, he also founded the record label/touring company Low Transit Industries, which saw him working with Lilys, Elf Power, Okkervil River, Of Montreal and Black Mountain.
CHERYL! Your Love Shines Down Like A Supernova’s Death marks Dez‘s fifth full-length release following 2024’s A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin, 2023’s Perseus War, 2022’s Ulysses Trash and 2021’s Hairline Ego Trip. Aside from Dez, who handles the vocals, samples, guitars, synths and noise, the album also sees appearances from labelmates Laura Loriga on backing vocals along with Johnny Halifax on lap steel and backing vocals. With prior albums attracting critical plaudits as well as the involvement of God Unknown Records, there wasn’t a chance I was gonna pass this one up for review purposes.
CHERYL! [Loading…] is a four-second electronic blip intro which anyone of my generation who grew up playing the Nintendo will recognise, providing, as it does, a very brief nostalgic hit. Brutalised Robotics is synth-pop and new wave, which fans of Devo will greatly appreciate, with the vocals especially similar to those of Mark Mothersbaugh and co.
Talk, Clown. takes the listener down a Fu Manchu stoner/fuzz laden route, with detours to garage rock and punk. However, there’s also a tasty Fela Kuti afrobeat influenced funkiness which, when combined with the heavy riffs, recall what Here Lies Man have been conjuring up these past few years. Notopia is like pioneering noise-poppers The Jesus and Mary Chain meets a more accessible Chrome, messers Helios Creed and Damon Edge would be proud.
effortlessly cool and outright hipness…
Your Love Shines Down Like a Supernova’s Death has a space rock Hawkwind vibe and is more vital sounding than anything the latter have put out in decades, with a contemporary twist that reminds one of the mighty Giöbia. Rights Down 50‘s main riff sounds like a reworking of Clash City Rockers by The Clash while the quieter sections are more akin to mellow trippy 60’s acid folk. An unlikely but otherwise fantastic combination.
What Ya Gonna Do With Yr Days sees The Rolling Stones and AC/DC jamming with Spacemen 3, its infectious, supremely catchy and superbly written. A personal favourite without doubt. Light Touch Of The Man Spreader takes aim at a well-earned target, mostly inconsiderate twattish men who thoughtlessly spread themselves out by taking up unnecessary space on public transport. Sonically, you are reminded of bands such as The Screamers and Nervous Gender, both of whom I believe to be criminally underrated, and which is a major factor behind what makes this otherwise silly song so enjoyable.
Golden Cerebellum fantastic bluesy guitar soloing accompanies the track’s otherwise krautrock motorik backdrop to produce some truly astonishing results and finally I Only Cry From A Distance x Time = Frustration is the album’s longest track at nearly five minutes and in possession of more progressive tendencies, think Todd Rundgren’s Utopia (the first couple of albums). An intriguing piece. Blistered Eyeballs has tinges of countrified desert rock with a blistering The Stooges energy running through it, affording what is an invigorating conclusion to the album.
King Tuff and Ty Segall came to mind while listening to the album for the sonic variety, effortlessly cool and outright hipness on offer. Hence, I would have no hesitation recommending it, check it out.
Label: God Unknown Records
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
