The new record from Dummy, a Los Angeles group that we would like to fall under the genre of “psychedelic post-pop,” might be one of the best-paced albums of the year. Shifting from brief spurts of trip-hop, ’90s shoegaze ala Stereolab, Lush, or someone more obscure like Hum, frenzied post-punk, the artists at Dummy Inc. have made a wildly enjoyable listen from start to listen—perfect for zoning out of a fractured conversation, or eating a bundle of edibles on a rainy Wednesday night while attempting to watch television.
Often when a band tries to a number of influences within one song, it can feel alarming and forced, but with Free Energy, the band slowly leads you on an obscure path—right from the moment the drum machine during the hazy, ambient opener “Intro-UB” begins. Soon after, we are welcomed by the fuzzy “Soonish,” which would sound like an MBV clone if not for Emma Maatman’s cutesy, methadone-laced vocals. The band has tons of room to play on the track; mutating organ chords, liquid buzzed-out guitars, and a bass riff that makes you want to jump around like the fool you know you are.
I get a huge whiff of Brian Jonestown Massacre from “Unshaped Pool,” but again, Maatman’s vocals, almost Kim Deal-esque, bouncing off of Nathan O’Dell’s, put the song into another universe that yes, wears an influence, but graduates into its own flavour. “Opaline Bubbletear,” in all its art jazz wave, saxophone glory is a gorgeous interlude to kickoff into “Blue Dada,” a dancey psych bop, that has the band working overtime in tandem with loops, and off-time percussion, leaving you pleasantly disoriented. It’s a trip you want to re-live over and over again.
With this kind of music, it’s easy to overdo it and get lost in the instrumental sauce, but Dummy never does. No song overstays its welcome and each probably went through meticulous editing now standing at only a bit over the the two minutes.
This makes Free Energy an easily digestible album, full of trips and hyper-stylized turns, and the second half gives some bpm reprieves, like with a track like “Psychic Battery,” that made me think of the first time I heard a band like Cocteau Twins. The song focuses on the atmosphere and vocal layering of Maatman’s angelic voice.
Yes, with Free Energy, Dummy has found its niche.
