Part of a mini-trend of Canadian bands that take the epic
pop
-pomp of
U2
and early
Radiohead
as their starting point (see also
the Dears
and
Arcade Fire
, among others), Ontario's
the Dunes
don't go nearly as far afield from their influences as their contemporaries, and this is not necessarily a good thing.
The Dunes
specialize in grandiose wide-screen
songs that unfurl under leader
Kevin Pullen
's somewhat histrionic and
emo
-tinged lead vocals. It's all very earnest, almost to the point of being insufferably pompous. What saves
is that the passionate delivery is matched to a better than average melodic sense and an eye for detail in the arrangements that actually led to the band taking the unusual step of pulling the initial 2004 release of
Socializing with Life
, remixing and tweaking the song lineup to improve the album's overall sound and flow. This allows the listener to keep from focusing on
Pullen
's angsty lyrical world-view on songs like
"What You Wanted"
"The Easiest."
So...Canada's post-millennial equivalent to
Simple Minds
, then? There are worse things to be; there are also so much better. ~ Stewart Mason