Done

They Say...

Review by Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Scoring Iain Burgess as album producer was a good enough stroke of luck for 18th Dye on their album debut, but it wouldn't have meant a thing if the band didn't have the songs to produce, and they did. Done is one of those records where what initially might sound a bit obvious or common -- their combination of fuzz and relaxation was hardly out of place in the post-Nirvana indie-rock world of 1992 -- actually has much more to it than is seems on first blush. A lot of this is due to the instrumental work of guitarist/singer Sebastian Buttrich, who has a great knack for initially establishing his playing ability on a song (a thick layer of feedback or a brisk strum, for instance), then sneaking in something more to make things really interesting. Usually this consists of a solo that doesn't suck or sound pointlessly wanky, often a rare thing in rock! Thus the break on "Whole Wide World" leads to a soaring electric surge, carried along by the quick pace before crunching back into the main song drive, and with harmonies to boot! Bassist Heike Radeker and drummer Piet Bendtsen do a fine job as the rhythm section, with the former's vocals contrasting nicely with Buttrich's gentle drawl when taking lead on many songs. Hints of many different influences crop up throughout -- the Wedding Present's emotionally charged thrash from Seamonsters, My Bloody Valentine's queasy guitar, and unsurprisingly indie uber-lords Sonic Youth, among others -- but while the bandmembers are still in debt to their favorite listening material, they make the end result much more than a simple combination of stuff in a cool record collection. Burgess himself tops it all off with his usual crisp but not annoyingly clean work behind the boards.