Album Review :: Dexters - Shimmer Gold

Dexters

Shimmer Gold

March 17 2014 (Acid Jazz Records)

8/10

Words: Dave Beech

Guitar bands, it seems, have faded somewhat in to obscurity over the last few years. Overshadowed by a sudden onslaught of synth-driven disco pop, the “boys in bands” mentality shrunk beneath the brim of it's trilby, allowing for a far more electronically disposed mindset to come to the fore. Things look set to change however, as bands such as Eagulls, Drowners and SKATERS are bringing in a new wave of guitar bands. One such band perpetuating the ideas of a dual-syllabic band names are London's Dexters.

With their previous single 'Start to Run' earning them lofty praise, what does  'Shimmer Gold have to offer? What becomes apparent early on is that this is a debut that's built on solid foundations - and is a great example of what guitar driven indie-pop should sound like in 2014.

Opening track 'Cloudfest' is a light and breezy start to proceedings, and a straightforward introduction in to the band's overall sound, whilst establishing frontman Tom Rowlett as the quintessential indie vocalist. Forthcoming single 'Recover', on the other hand, could have been taken from either of the first two Strokes records, fuzz and all. Rather than be completely derivative, however, the chorus is entirely steeped in mid-00s British indie, giving it some welcome homegrown flavour.

Tracks such as 'The Hard Way' and 'Oceans' are your usual indie fare, coming off sounding not dissimilar to The Enemy, only with less inflated ego and more ambition. Often these mid-album tracks would be deemed as filler, but with Dexters, they build up to the highlights, rather than fill the gaps between them.

The title of stand-out track -  unsurprisingly -  falls to the eponymous 'Shimmer Gold', a hazy number  built around a chunky bassline and hypnotic guitar. Lyrically the track draws from narrative styles of blues, learned from Rowlett's childhood spent watching his dad in the backstreet pubs of the East End. Rather than maudlin however, 'Shimmer Gold' is a charismatic and uplifting affair whose rich and vibrant layers of instrumentation are capped off with some crisp brass and even a harmonica that sounds like something from a Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin record. Interestingly enough, it feels as though 'Shimmer Gold' was only the heady first part of psychedelic duo, the latter half coming in the form of final track 'Shimmer Forever', feeling somewhat like a direct extension of the former (split in half by 'Can't Sleep') only this time the summery psychotropics have kicked in, allowing for the bluesy harmonica to give way to a atmospheric, dream-poppy conclusion.

With a host of other bands eschewing synth sounds in favour of the more traditional four and five piece guitar bands, it seems that Dexters, along with many of their contemporaries, will see themselves as part of another guitar-pop resurgence, such as that that we saw eight to ten years ago. And whilst many of those bands aren't around any more, Dexters et al seem far more ambitious than the laddish nature of Pigeon Detectives and friends, hopefully affording them a longevity that other bands of that era weren't fortunate enough to have.