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Avg: 4.0 (67 ratings)
- Date Released: February 20, 2007
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Indie Rock
- Label: Yep Roc Records / Redeye
Soul-deadening slow-country for the dead of winter.
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We Say...
Critics often lazily label Dolorean alt-country, but the first moments of their third album should help to dispel that myth. Taking what sounds like a sampled drum pattern as its base, the quintet locks tightly into a groove reminiscent of an early-‘70s soul group. Longtime fans of head honcho Al James and his compatriots’ intersection of country and slowcore don’t have too much to worry about, though. The title and refrain (“You Can’t Win”) reveal them to be the Portland, Oregon, saddoes they are.
In fact, aside from the aforementioned “You Can’t Win” and a few others which contain a healthy dose of organ, “We Winter Wrens,” with its languid string arrangement, and “You Don’t Want to Know,” which seems to be played through the empty bottle of gin James left on the table last night, it’s SOP for the boys. James sings about “the condemned men” mentioned in the liner note epigraph by novelist James Salter with the sort of empathy that only comes from lived experience, mulling over melancholy from every possible angle.
Sure, an entire album worth of songs like “In Love with the Doubt” and “What One Bottle Can Do” may be a slog in the summer, but when you’re snug in the dead of winter, nothing else seems to make as much sense. -
They Say...
You Can't Win is a slow drive through the kind of America that feels as wrung out and worn through as a pair of old sneakers. It's the kind of terrain traversed by other introspective, rustic, youngish men like Jeff Tweedy, Joe Purdy, and (to an extent) Will Oldham -- the kind of place you go if you're looking for empty stretches of pavement and hulking, rusted-out factories moldering in the tall grass. Dolorean's lead singer and songwriter, Al James, is interested in stories about men on the outskirts; You Can't Win, to put it in the words of writer James Salter, concerns itself with "a breed of aimless wanderers" who "have an infuriating power, that of condemned men. They can talk to anybody; they can speak the truth." James is interested in giving voice to this truth, and it sure does yield some sad songs. While James plods over some clichéd subjects on this album (women and booze chief among them), he at least has a knack for story. "Beachcomber Blues" and "My Still Life" tread the usual territory of busted hearts and broken dreams, but James manages to flesh out these old ideas in some surprising ways; the beachcomber becomes a symbol for the directionless wanderer, and the arid Californian landscape is riddled with images of an ex-lover. Granted, there's a lot of drowsy, dull-hearted shambling going on here, and it's a little depressing to come up against a wall of relentless melancholy such as this. But even if this trip is a tad on the soporific side, Dolorean still manages to travel through some beautiful country.
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| 01. |  |
You Can't Win |
4:26 |
|
| 02. | |
We Winter Wrens |
3:20 |
|
| 03. | |
Heather Remind Me How This Ends |
2:44 |
|
| 04. | |
Beachcomber Blues |
6:32 |
|
| 05. | |
You Don't Want To Know |
1:41 |
|
| 06. | |
Buffalo Gal |
5:06 |
|
| 07. | |
In Love With The Doubt |
3:06 |
|
| 08. | |
What One Bottle Can Do |
4:23 |
|
| 09. | |
33-53.9 N/118-38.8 W |
2:46 |
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| 10. | |
Just Don't Leave Town |
3:56 |
|
| 11. | |
My Still Life |
2:49 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 40:49 Total Length
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Credits
- Gus Van Sant - Cover Photo // Ben Nugent - Percussion // Ben Nugent - Drums // Ben Nugent - Vocals // Ben Nugent - Vocal Arrangement // Jonathan Drews - Vocals // J.J. Golden - Mastering // Emil Amos - Guitar (Electric) // Emil Amos - Vocals // Al James - Guitar (Acoustic) // Al James - Vocals // Rob Oberdorfer - Engineer // Rob Oberdorfer - Mixing // Jay Clarke - Organ // Jay Clarke - Piano // James Adair - Guitar (Bass) // Laura Gibson - Vocals // James Arthur Salter - Author // Peter Broderick - Banjo // Peter Broderick - Mandolin // Jeff Stuart Saltzman - Mixing // Aaron James - Design // Aaron James - Layout Design
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