‘Psychic Dissonance From The Unself’ is CANDIDATE'S latest long player, and follows on from 2011s ‘A New Life’. This latest release showcases the band’s mix of psych pop, post punk and jangly alt pop, which the band generically describes as "Dreamrock."
Candidate was formed in 2010 and comprises Cedric Sparkman on vocals and guitar, Laurence Adams on guitar, Jason Matuskiewicz on bass and Chris Infusino on drums. On this album the sound is added to by Justin Craig, guitar, additional lead, Synthesizer, bass, and programmed beats and Matt Duncan on horns.
The opening track, ‘April Again’ starts off slow and dreamy, but quickly morphs into something that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ album. Cedric’s melodic vocals carry the song, which was recently released as a single: - “April was a lie/ December was my secret/ Buried under waters made of life and breathing too infrequent/ I didn’t know the lies would speak to me just like the truth/ I would take it out on everyone and act the fool/ She don’t feel the way that I feel, does she? No, she does not/ Does she love me like I want? No, she does not.”
This is a solid start to the album, and it continues with ‘Brutal’, a lovely slice of post punk Joy Division-style sound, with some really solid drumming. The lyrics again work well, concerning a couple of nasty characters, and with a chorus of “And we'll blow all of your brains out” did make me think of Tarantino’s ‘Natural Born Killers’!
Where the band really take off is the fourth track on the album, the wonderful ‘Untimely End’, which is shrouded in echo, and the vocal style briefly made me think of some of John Lennon’s later solo work, however the subject matter is far darker: “We'll give our lives for God forbid we grow that much older/ Let's lay it down for an untimely end.”
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Other tracks that really work are the crisp clear guitar pop of ‘A Place For My Soul’, with its slightly fragile vocal and anthemic chorus: - “Don't leave me in the cold, In darkness on my own, Shivering in biting snow/ Oh, my soul could use a better home, Another place to go/ Under golden dome, In glory to behold.”
The penultimate track NYC comes across a bit like The Strokes, but is raised above that with a nice turn of phrase: - “As you fade and drift away from whatever I do with my day/ I see your ghost in empty halls softly afloat/ And I smile and slowly say, "Don't you know that I'm happy?/ And that pain has got nothing to do with me".”
For my introduction to the style of Dreamrock, this was a cool listening experience and certainly one worth repeating. It's a must for fans of alternative and indie rock and pop circa 1983 and there are plenty more of us out there, after all.
Listen and buy Candidate at Bandcamp
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