Album Review: Mothership - Dance Gavin Dance
“Riding a rhino, pico de gallo, roosters beak, I'll sleep when I leap that jeep.” *Cough cough* Excuse me sir, did I hear that right?
Track one of Mothership starts off on point with some interesting yet lovely lyrics that immediately reassure Dance Gavin Dance fans that their new record isn’t about to disappoint. Multitudes of head scratching phrases have somehow always worked with the experimental sounds that radiate from the heads of the post-hardcore Californians and Mothership pushes the boundaries of well…weird.
It’s been just over a year since last LP Instant Gratification was released, but Mothership lacks nothing in overall quality for the short timespan. A glance at the track listing and a read of the lyrics will confound any simple understanding, yet the timely political ‘Here Comes the Winner’ and sex drugs and rock and roll basics in ‘Flossie Dickey Bounce’ provide a glance at the depth of motivation. Love hardship and insecurity lend their apathy to an immensity felt throughout all of the tracks, proving Mothership to be a darker and slightly heavier record than its predecessor.
While the record doesn’t stray from the band’s signature hardcore sound, each track provides its own twist on experimental influence, jazz, funk and electronic elements found deeply integrated into individual melodies. ‘Philosopher King’ and ‘Petting Zoo Justice’ boast uncommon but radical heavy breakdowns, yet there’s still softness found on the record in ‘Exposed’, pulling through and standing out with a lack of unclean vocals.
Even when it seems that vocalist Tilian Pearson just couldn’t perform any better on a record than the last, he pulls out a track like ‘Inspire the Liars’, and slays. Mothership is intricately constructed to his range and uses his talent wisely to assert amazing high passages and lengthy notes. The record ends dramatically with ‘Man of the Year’, building up and up until it screams out and slams down, closing out the intense soundscape journey that was so cleverly crafted.
