Song titles can tell you a lot about an artist. With a tryptic of intriguing titles making up the middle part of this record, namely “The Biscuit (Who Grabbed My Face)”, “Diet of Worms” and the gloriously named “The President of The United States Is The Breitbart Bimbo” tells me all I need to know about Dolph Chaney. It tells me that he is clued up on his European religious history and that he doesn’t shy away from political posts, albeit wrapped up in a tongue-in-cheek lyrical salvo. More importantly it tells me that here we have an artist who isn’t afraid to use biscuit analogies to their fullest and most devastating affect. Finally!
I would never be that demanding of pop music, though calling this pop music might be to underplay its musical hand somewhat. Maybe from now on this is the lyrical benchmark by which I should measure the genre. Musically, there is a lot going on from It’s Ok’s perky beats and 60’s pastoral pop perfection to the ragged folk of The Biscuit… from the searing Dinosaur Jr.-esque alt-rock moves of The President… to the gorgeously awkward and slightly off-kilter ballad, (Who Am I) To Ask You To Dance. Genres? Who needs them?
Dolph Chaney makes music for all the right reasons, he makes the music which makes him happy, which says what he wants to say and in the way that he wants to say it. There is no attempt to play up to expectations or follow fashion, he’s better than that and Rebuilding Permit is a joyous collection of the wonderful, the strange and the strangely wonderful. Why don’t more artists take a leaf out of his book?
[…] hiatery?) brought on by the pandemic, Dolph Chaney found himself riding high with the release of Rebuilding Permit. Although he has been steadily ploughing a poised, power-pop furrow for many years, it was this […]