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Dormlife

Mustard Is The New Ketchup

Written by: PP on 02/04/2012 16:31:32

I'm not exactly sure how Dormlife have stayed unnoticed for this long, because if their third album "Mustard Is The New Ketchup" (love the title!) is of any indication, these guys should be riding on a wave of popularity based on their vocalist Samuel alone. His singing is extraordinarily good for a band as unknown as Dormlife, showcasing pure talent throughout the record whether through an impressive traverse of an incredibly wide range and pitch, giving the likes of Patrick Stump a run for their money at the competition of who can sing at the highest pitch without sounding girly in the process, while simultaneously displaying a fantastic ability to keep the listener interested even in the conventional, mid-range pop rock vocal style as well.

The band names their music style to be 'organic powerpop', a definition derived from the band's acoustic guitar-driven melodies that are supported by a funky, fretless bass, a few well-placed trumpets, an alternative rock oriented drummer, and even classical piano in places. If it weren't for the pop rock orientation, you could almost argue that Dormlife sounds just like Incubus during their "Morning View" era, mostly thanks to Samuel sounding exceptionally much like Brandon Boyd of said band. His vocal melodies have certainly drawn from those guys, as well as from Daryl Palumbo's work in both Glassjaw and Head Automatica, and I'm even tempted to add in the sexy R'n'B-esque indie-pop of Minus The Bear. That's quite the cocktail of different styles and influences, but yet the band's expression has a distinctly innovative and fresh feel to it.

To use a more colloquial way to describe it: it's really, really chill acoustic pop/rock. It has the same relaxing mood as Jack Johnson, but played with far more energy and a bouncy, quirky manner throughout. The record is jam-packed with infectious, sweetened pop licks and choruses, with "Cocaine", "Venom" and "Scentse" coming across as the highlight tracks of the album. Especially the first one makes me wonder how on earth it is possible for Dormlife to have less than 100 fans on their Facebook page. Solid, at times phenomenal acoustic pop/rock that deserves a far wider audience.

Download: Cocaine, Scentse, Venom,
For the fans of: Incubus, Minus The Bear, Head Automatica
Listen: Soundcloud

Release date 09.11.2011
Duckphone Records