Band: The Dangerous Summer
Release: Golden Record (Album)
Release Date: Out Now
The third album is a tricky thing. Do you go with the formula that made albums one and two so popular? Do you try something a little different in an attempt to make more of a statement/impact with this release? This time it feels like The Dangerous Summer have done both.
Kicking everything off in fine form comes first single ‘Catholic Girls‘. From the first few notes, it is easy to establish this isn’t going to be entirely as you preconceived. The track itself begins with a heady mash up of instruments strategically orchestrated to create a bar of ironically simplistic music. It is slightly out of the norm when it comes to what we have previously heard from the band but stick with it, in all honesty, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Each track has its own new little quirk to it that makes it sound just that little bit different from the old faithful Dangerous Summer. Vocals are the most obvious in each song – where once singer AJ Perdomo had a voice that could instantly sooth and relate yourself to, this makes way to a more raw, husky and emotionally charged voice that hits you automatically as something that deserves to be taken head on even more so than before.
Of course, for the most part the style of backing sounds and instrumentals is quintessentially The Dangerous Summer, tracks such as ‘Honesty‘ and ‘Into The Comfort‘ show this effortlessly, everything about the build up to the track is completely what we have come to expect; light, catchy, uplifting – it is when the vocals kick in that we realise these have potentially the gruffest vocals on the entire album. Compare this to ‘Sins‘ where that notion is slightly turned on its head where the vocals sound a little softer and the instruments themselves sound intense and unabated.
Closing track ‘Anchor‘ is almost a juxtaposition to its opening counterpart, where ‘Catholic Girls’ was a heavy track to start with, this seems to be a light way of rounding everything off. The track could almost have been used on either of the band’s previous releases, yet it clearly works best here to provide a little normality in something that is a weighty listen for the most part.
It really seems like The Dangerous Summer throw caution to the wind to see what they could come up, almost with an unawareness to their previous work in order to create something fresh and new but with the essence of what we have come to know from the band. This, of course, could have gone one of two ways, but thankfully this took the successful route.
8/10
Reviewer: Amy Jones
