Dappled Cities Fly - ASmile

Tue 16th Nov, 2004 in Music Reviews

So we waited and we waited. Then we waited some more. And just as we’d almost moved on, cut our losses and forgotten about a debut album from Dappled Cities Fly, they go and put out A Smile.

You could say the wait was too long and six months or a year ago would have nailed the moment better. Those early singles a few years back seem like a long time ago, and Dappled is a restlessly creative band after all, which means your favourite songs might not be here. A minor quibble really, as they’re probably on one of the EPs or old B-sides anyhow.

But in the end, it doesn’t matter. The timing is perfect. The album is very good. And from the reception it’s getting, it looks like Australia, and maybe…just maybe, the world, is ready.

What’s with my precious ‘on the fence’ tone you might ask? OK, I’ll ‘fess up. First listen just didn’t do it for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as much a Dappled fan-boy as any music lovin’ fool out there. I was just left thinking where are the great tunes, the gorgeous melodies – where’s my big excitement?

Well, guess who was the big fool? Once I’d calmed down, it only took a few listens to realise what a joy this record is. 10 listens later and I’m happy to declare to the world that Dappled Cities Fly are still wonderful, still unique, still magical and still terribly, terribly good.

Here’s why. Let’s get production credits out of the way first. Jonathan Burnside has done a terrific job capturing, disciplining and mixing Dappled Cities Fly. No, they mightn’t have been quite what he was expecting. Hell at times, it might have appeared they weren’t all playing the same song at the same time, such is the subversive, deconstructionist nature of Dappled pop.

But the guy knows how to record and mix a band. The textures are balanced, the drums and bass are round but not overwhelming and the guitars and vocals sit perfectly. I’ll have to listen to The Sleepy Jackson album again, but this seems on a par.

It’s been said before, but what makes Dappled great is they are different! I mean you can hear touchstones ranging from Mercury Rev to The Fine Young Cannibals to Pavement or whatever, but they stand out in Australia as an act fine enough to equal international counterparts. Why? Because they take their influences and wield them into something that only they could.

Co-frontman Dave Rennick represents the more conventional indie pop side of the band, but this in itself is a paradox. Dave’s melodies are perhaps more accessible than his songwriting partner Tim Derricourt, but his songs purposefully counter such pop leanings by veering off somewhere unexpected with subversive lyrics or unusual structuring.

Take what I consider to be album’s gorgeous pop centrepiece, Make You Happy. Here’s Dave’s lyric in full.

“This bed is slippery like a public toilet,
And these doors are the doors that slide from one side of the world to the other,
We shudder, and we turn,
And we ride the wave of a new-fashioned graffiti.
Hopefully this will make you happy, Anna, as you waddle on the dance floor.”

I mean that last line, what the f**k?

Tim Derricourt appears to be a little more eccentric and less pop, but ironically seems to favour the traditional as opposed to the progressive. I’ve said this before in the Cream review, but Tim’s songs can sometimes remind me of a wistful lullaby you almost heard on the soundtrack to The Wizard Of Oz or Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory and well, who can complain about that? This is the balance that serves Dappled Cities Fly so well.

Call me greedy, but this album ultimately whets my appetite for more Dappled Cities Fly, and that can only be a good thing for the band, their fans and me.