Dakota Suite
"This River Only Brings Poison" CD
Planting
Seeds Records
Genres: indie pop, slowcore
Planting Seeds
PO Box 64665
Virginia Beach VA
23467
Dec 15 - 21 2003 |
Combine
the dreariness of Red House Painters, the elegant
instrumentation of L'altra, and the subtle pedal steel of American
Music Club (Bruce Kaphan helps out on three of this album's
songs), and you've got Dakota Suite. This River Only
Brings Poison is their 2002 release, although Planting
Seeds recently put out a reissue with four bonus tracks. Most of the melodies
on this album are instantly memorable.
You'd need to be an amnesiac not to have "Let's Share
Wounds" ringing in your head after just one listen. The
severely L'altra-esque "Boats in a Sunken Ocean,"
meanwhile, will have you hooked from the first note. Bittersweet
treasures "The Ferris Wheels of Winter" and "Pillows in
the Water" are also very strong parts of this album, which is
largely subdued and downtrodden. The short instrumental
interludes that pad the songs are very effective as well, helping to build
the record's casual, meandering flow. The powerful bonus tracks,
meanwhile, are worthwhile inclusions, blending in with the
album's overall feel perfectly - "The Streets Were All I
Saw," in fact, is one of the disc's best moments.
Less sad than sadcore, less urgent than indie pop, and less spacey
than dream pop, Dakota Suite's This River Only Brings Poison
is a revelation in pop music. Purchase it with pride.
88%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 18 tracks, distributed by the
label, released 2003] |