The Dear & Departed
Something Quite Peculiar
Science
Despite a creepy, and slightly pretentious, intro of monks chanting over a thunderstorm backdrop, I found myself very quickly sinking into sweet love with The Dear & Departed. Maybe it’s because I’ve been on a serious Alkaline Trio kick lately (of which this Orange County, CA band sound a lot like), but despite an ill preconceived notion of this band, I may have found an album that will be played again and again on my iPod – alongside those guilty-pleasure Alkaline Trio albums!
Borrowing heavily from the moody dark wave pop of the ’80s (The Cure, The Church especially), Something Quite Peculiar (which takes it name from The Church’s “Under The Milky Way,” a song of which is also the closing track of the album) seems to have been custom made to bridge the gap between the emo world and the new wave pop world. If you’ve got the Warped Tour in one hand and the new Killers album in the other – put those hands together and you’ve got an approximation of The Dear & Departed.
And if that doesn’t convince you, the album was produced by Chris Vrenna who has not only worked with U2, Smashing Pumpkins and Killing Joke, but also worked as a drummer and programmer for the mighty Nine Inch Nails. AND, offering a little extra aid on the production end was AFI guitarist Jade Puget (D & D vocalist Dan Under provided backing vocals on AFI’s most recent release, as well).
The Dear & Departed: http://www.thedearanddeparted.com
