Dirt Circle Dogs
Kingdom Come
Originally from Indiana, the now Denver-based Dirt Circle Dogs make their local debut with Kingdom Come, an album that pushes the band's sound outward from within the rigid confines of typical indie-rock generalizations. The four members function musically as an artist's collective, incorporating interests from experimental theater to illustration into their work.
The multi-instrumentalists find mutual inspiration in both the structure of choral music and the chaos inherent to punk rock. These influences are sometimes singularly evident: "If I Should Fall" is an organ-heavy modern hymn with traditional lyrics ("If I should fall from grace with God / If you should rise and I should not / If I should I should fall from grace with God / Let me go down"), while "Mile High" is a psychobilly-tinged surprise sandwiched between tracks that are more Mogwai than The Meteors.
However, Dirt Circle Dogs' most successful songs convey a study in contrasts; a self-described "bright/dark" sound that is best evident on "Of Redemption," "Yesterday's Song," and the opening "Autobahn Public House." And while the band tends to veer in the direction of post-rock, it is often with a twist: Kingdom Come's title track sports a hip-hop influence by way of The Moon & Antarctica-era Isaac Brock.
The album closes with "Static," a haunting meeting of strings and electronic fuzz with vocalist/drummer Sondra Eisenstat's lush vocals and spoken word. Eisenstat sings that there is "No voice on the radio," and perhaps, for now, that's true. Kingdom, though, is certainly worth a private listen at home.
A.V. Club Grade: B
