Portland – Dub Thompson seems to be a band that does what it wants. Members Matt Pulos (guitar and vocals) and Evan Laffer (drums) are two nineteen year old dudes who met in their Agoura Hills high school gym class, bonded over a love of Can and Talking Heads (because we all listened to Can and Talking Heads in high school, right?), then kind of just jammed till they found themselves in Jonathan Rado of Foxygen’s rental house in Bloomington, Indiana, recording an album and—according to the press materials—eating a bunch of hard-boiled eggs. In addition to elevated cholesterol, they came out of the process with eight songs, which they turned into an album called 9 Songs. See what they did there?
Dub Thompson announced themselves to the world last March with one of those eight songs, “Dograces,”—a whomping head-bobber of a handshake, with absurdist lyrics, blown out sonics, and some movie intermission music thrown in at the end for good measure. It’s a little bit Beck, a little bit Captain Beefheart, a lot of Dub Thompson doing what they want. If you haven’t seen it, the Robert Beatty directed video is worth checking out for its Paranoid -cover-art aesthetic and shoeless rocking.
On 9 Songs Dub Thompson continues their Beck meets Beefheart sound and gives it several additional twists. The album opener, “Hayward!” brings a new sense of urgency and menace to the proceedings with growling bass and some pretty nasty guitar squalls. Instead of coolly commanding us to “get your feet up” as he does in “Dograces” Pulos shouts out questions and dates like an angry interrogator. But then, like a dog that’s satisfied it has done enough barking, the band lays back down on the porch and rolls over to show us its mellow dub belly with the burbling, syncopated second track, “No Time,” and the acoustic strummer, “Epicondyles.”
This ping-ponging between styles is what makes 9 Songs a great listen. Pulos and Laffer are operating on whim and instinct, making music that feels fresh to them, and it pays off. The one exception to this would be the eponymous track, “9 Songs,” which is actually the sixth song on the album. The song “9 Songs” itself is a monotonous jam, the kind of thing a friend’s band might half-heartedly kick around between songs at practice while they’re waiting for the singer to get back from the bathroom. Dub Thompson has stated that they do most of their writing by jamming for extended periods of time and this song feels like it never developed past that initial stage.
But that’s the downside of going on instinct. The upside is you might end up with an excellent bluesy stomp like the follow-up track, “Ash Wednesday.” Or you might even end up with a song about oh, I don’t know, PTERODACTYLS, such as the pre-historic ripper that closes out 9 Songswith a balanced and timely meditation on nature’s favorite sky terrors.
Title track aside, 9 Songs is a massively fun introduction to a refreshingly immature talent. Nice to meet you, Dub Thompson. Please continue to make yourself at home.
Dub Thompson is touring in July; check out their website for dates.
