The Dum Dum Girls made waves in the indie world when their sophomore album, “Only in Dreams,” dropped in 2011. The girl group’s infectious ’60s pop rock sound swirled around with their dreamier post-punk tendencies to create a whole new listening experience.

“Too True,” the follow-up to “Only in Dreams,” takes a turn down a darker, more romantic path. It could serve as the soundtrack to an Anne Rice novel, back when vampires were sexy but still scary.

While the Dum Dum Girls’ previous two albums were recorded with the whole band, frontwoman Kristin Welchez, or Dee Dee Penny, is the only member to appear on “Too True,” making it a deeply personal experience for the singer.

The album starts off with “Cult of Love,” an invitation to join Dee Dee on a romantic but somehow dangerous journey. “I belong (we belong) to the cult of love, won’t you join too?” she sings.

Her voice is as arresting as ever. It’s so pure, so old-fashioned and sultry, that even though she doesn’t demonstrate an impressive range, she still has one of the most beautiful voices in modern rock music.

And the music is just as gorgeous. It draws inspiration from ’80s post-punk heroes, like The Cure or Siouxsie and the Banshees, with a tinge of modern alternative rock to bring it into the present. The guitars are riddled with reverb, but the production is so clean that the music never gets muddled. The bass is almost always prominent, and the drums sound like they’re right out of The Cure’s “Disintegration,” featuring a heavy backbeat and a wide open snare sound.

“Cult of Love” leads into “Evil Blooms,” an upbeat, sing-able track with a melody that gets stuck in your head. Despite its cheery sound, the song is about the allure of a dark side. “Why be good? Be beautiful and sad, it’s all you’ve ever had,” Dee Dee sings. It’s an acknowledgement of her flaws, both in character and in psyche, that continue to crop up on the rest of the album.

The second single off the album, “Rimbaud Eyes,” features some of the most poetic lyrics — fitting, since it’s named after Arthur Rimbaud, a French poet in the 1870s who died of cancer in his late 30s. Dee Dee’s mother died of cancer in 2010, and much of their earlier album “Only in Dreams” consists of songs about her struggle with the disease, as well as Dee Dee’s struggle with watching her mother die.

“Rimbaud Eyes” is not nearly as straightforward as the deeply personal lyrics on “Only in Dreams,” but it’s not a stretch to say the track is about her mother’s death. “Truly I have wept too much, and the dawns are heartbreakers, every moon is atrocious, every sun bitter, sharp love has swollen me up,” she sings. The entire song is a poem about loss and mourning, and the music is perhaps the best example of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ influence on Dee Dee’s sound. It’s dark, romantic, gothic and beautiful.

Depression is a theme that’s prevalent in all of the Dum Dum Girls’ albums, and “Too True” is no exception. “Are You Okay?” is a wispy ballad about trying to explain your feelings to people who can never really understand. But it’s also about seeking comfort in others despite their inability to know what you’re going through.

Despite the heavy influence the 1980s have on the Dum Dum Girls’ sound, lyrically “Too True” is a Generation X anthem. With themes of depression, being misunderstood and feeling unsure of her path, Dee Dee characterizes the 1990s alternative rock mentality better than a lot of ’90s bands did.

The best example of this mentality comes from the album’s first single, “Lost Boys and Girls Club.” It’s a sludgy slow burner with a distorted guitar lead and muddy bass sound. “There’s no particular place we are going, still we are going,” Dee Dee sings.

“Too True” closes with “Trouble Is My Name,” a beautiful ballad that finds Dee Dee accepting the flaws she’s outlined on the rest of the album. It’s not a sad song, though. It’s not apologetic, but it’s also not proud or malicious. It’s sung with cool indifference, as if she’s simply stating these self-revelations as fact and feeling nothing at all as a result. “There’s nothing you can do, to make all your bad turn good,” she sings.

Dee Dee sings of cults, evil, dead poets, depression, loss and finally acceptance. By the end of this gorgeous album, you’ll embrace all the flaws that made such music possible.

 

Published on February 3, 2014 at 10:22 pm

Contact Jessica: jmcabe@syr.edu | @Jessica_Cabe