The Dears: Gang Of Losers

The long awaited CD "Gang Of Losers" receives its official release today and this is my current pick for album of the year. Filled with emotion, the Dears have never sounded more confident, more original, and more in charge of creating their own sound than they do here. After the mood setting intro entitled "Sinthtro" comes in, it's immediately followed with the album's first single "Ticket To Immortality" and the line "The world is really gonna love you" could easily be applied to the band themselves. For those that felt some of their earlier work had just a little too much going on, this album is a little bit more stripped down, doing away with some of the orchestration and the need to include 100 different instruments per song. Mind you, that's exactly what I liked about the Dears previous work, but this album shows us that more than anything, they rely on quality song structures and intelligent lyrics to get their point across. Covering topics such as prejudice, hate, love and mercy, the album is clearly thematic throughout, but without reaching too much pretention. Also, the emotive quality of Murray Lightburn's voice covers such a wide range of emotions that you can really sense the rollercoaster that he and his wife, band member Natalia Yanchak, have been on over the last few years, culminating in the birth of their daughter. "Whites Only Party" is highly infectious and powerful. "Death Or Life We Want You" rocks. "You And I Are A Gang Of Losers" is stunningly beautiful. "I Fell Deep" is a masterpiece. I've read various mixed reviews on other sites. But in my opinion, this is an album I'll be listening to faithfully for years to come.

The Dears official website.
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Downloads:
Ticket To Immortality
You And I Are A Gang Of Losers