After a series of features on IDIOTEQ in the past couple of years, Washington DC based pop rockish post punk act DOT DASH are back with yet another quality record called “Searchlights”, just made available for free streaming and available now via The Beautiful Music, the Ottawa-based indie label that also released their four previous albums. These guys have once again developed the sound that seems to come from within and I get this feeling that there have been no musical fads or hypes that have influenced the way they approach their tunes. Again, we get the quality DOT DASH round way and it’s a good thing. Listen below.
Band photo by Jim Saah Photography.
Recorded over a weekend (March 5th and 6th) at North Carolina’s Fidelitorium Studios and produced by Missy Thangs (Ex Hex, Ian McLagan), the 15-track Searchlights is Dot Dash’s most varied, expansive album yet.
While the quartet’s combination of adroitly poppy melodies with an often visceral instrumental attack (drawing comparisons to The Jam, Big Star, and The Replacements along the way) remains undiminished, Searchlights reaches further – comprising a broader range of musical dynamics than previous Dot Dash albums.
On the live front, Dot Dash has played with The B-52s, Tommy Keene, The Fleshtones, Ash, The Psychedelic Furs, The Chameleons, The Dickies, Hugh Cornwell, The Monochrome Set, Stiff Little Fingers, Glen Matlock, The Bats, Sylvain Sylvain, Urge Overkill, The Drums, The Trashcan Sinatras, Frankie Rose, The Clientele, Drivin’n’Cryin’, The Empty Hearts, Matt Pond PA, Moon Duo, Soulside, Chris Stamey, Wax Idols, and The Supersuckers, among many others, and “Flowers” from the band’s 2015 album, Earthquakes & Tidal Waves, was recently included in the soundtrack of IFC-TV comedy Benders.
