Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Album Review: DTCV- Hilarious Heaven

DTCV
Hilarious Heaven
**and1/2 out of *****
The French-American post-punk rockers DTCV (pronounced Detective) have put out a large album that spans multiple genres. The trio James Greer (vocals/guitar) Guylaine Vivarat (vocals/guitar/bass/keys) Chris Dunn (drums) have a lot to say musically over their debut release even splicing obscure movie quotes in-between the tracks.

The pop jangling rocker of "I Was Where You Were" is a fun quick breeze while "Improving Ground" shows the bands Velvet Underground love in Greer's Lou Reed like vocals and slanted pop structure. "Hyperdoxxing At Dowager Inn" is brief burst of punk while "Alpha Waves in a Gelatinous Container" swimmingly eases out before jagged terrain upsets the bliss. 

Two of the better tracks take different paths, the groove factor gets amplified on "Electrostatic Inc" and a piano intro sets up "Contre Jour" as Vivarat sultry sings in French over a an increasingly pretty building rise of instrumentation.  

The groups male female leads and artistic tendencies lead to a stripped down, mellow Sonic Youth comparison, but DTCV are much more pop orientated. Their 11 minute experiment "How Not To Be" includes a few flute and sax free jazz breaks but they feel shoehorned in as opposed to fluid; things never coalesce and this outlier doesn't reach its intended soaring heights.  

That said the players are all seasoned veterans and Hilarious Heaven is nuanced and professional, the group has a lot to work with going forward.   
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A cool mix of tunes. Really a pop record with flashes of noiserock.

Support the band here, buy the album here and peep some video below:


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