dozemarypool |
Embarrassment of Riches At the top of our growing pile of local CDs is one from Doze Mary Pool, a new band with extravagant, soaring guitar pop, dreamy/dramatic vocal melodies and swooshy arrangements BY RENé SPENCER SALLER This week's favorite is Doze Mary Pool, a new band that makes extravagant, soaring guitar pop, dolled-up with dreamy/dramatic Thom Yorke-ish vocal melodies and swooshy arrangements. A bit like Radiohead before they started getting too snooty for guitars or a less eccentric XTC, Doze Mary Pool go for the grand gesture -- long songs that often clock in at seven minutes plus, with psychedelic touches, pretty Brian-Wilsonish harmonies and lots and lots of chiming guitar. All we have is an untitled CD-R (no press kit, no song list, nothing), but it's competently produced and recorded; frankly, it sounds every bit as good to us as stuff they drool about in Mojo these days. Radar Station advises these guys to start shopping their stuff to labels posthaste. They came out of nowhere (well, St. Peters or some such far-flung burb), they're all ridiculously young and, truth be told, it's quite sickening that they're as great as they are. With a few gigs at Sally T's under their belt, they've recently started playing a bit closer to civilization; you should have the chance to catch them a few times around town before they're selling out stadiums in Europe (OK, we exaggerate, but barely). riverfronttimes.com | originally published: August 1, 2001 |
Three To See: by John Kujawski Dozemarypool - This four-piece rock group has a very appealing mix of guitar and keyboards, and they manage to come up with melodies that make it impossible to doze off at their shows. Their song "Sectioned Pets" has a sound that demands to be played over and over in the car or full blast on a stereo; and it sounds amazing live. Certainly, their musicianship is at a very high level and I'd say they have catchy lyrics except that it's impossible to understand any of them. On "Sectioned Pets," it's not even worth trying, but the feel and the melody is all there and they're certainly worth seeing |
The Bands of Summer, BY NILES BARANOWSKI - Dozemarypool - Their swirling, distortion-fried music is a combination of great British influences, from their gorgeous Beatlesque songwriting to the fuzzed-out, dreamy guitar work they coat the songs in, making them perhaps the perfect group to take cold medicine to. Pop has rarely been so noisily perfect, but after years of playing around, Dozemarypool is still the bridesmaid and rarely the bride. While the band usually pop ups on the opening spot of bills, it still manages to choose only the best to play with. The silver lining of all this, though, is that after opening for All Night Radio and Low Skies, among others, Dozemarypool is a sure indicator of bands that are worth your time and money. riverfronttimes.com | originally published: May 26, 2004 |
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Riverfront Times Music Awards '04 BY Steve Pick Dozemarypool - It's not like the members of Dozemarypool never come up with new material. But it does seem as though they like to tinker with the old songs every few months. Over the last couple of years, Dozemarypool has recorded several demo CDs, and songs have stretched and become more mysterious every time. The imaginations of guitarist Ryan Stoutenborough; his brother, drummer Andy Stoutenborough; and bassist Keith Mangles never run dry. Start with hypnotic washes of guitar over a pummeling drumbeat and a furiously steady bass line, and see how many different ideas can be generated. www.rftstl.com | originally published: June 2, 2004 |
KWUR 90.3 Compilation review "Dividing By Zero Will Get You Nowhere" - Various Artists BY Patrick Malecek Dozemarypool's "The Champion." Their sound goes beyond just "hey, this is a talented local band." Although definitely part of the aforementioned "guitar-based rock," Dozemarypool is wonderfully different. Slightly trippy and heavy as hell, they reside somewhere between Hum and The Verve. "The Champion" is a big beautiful mess of a song. It's the sound of buildings being slowly brought down by creeping lava; the vocals wander around the song, hopelessly looking for a way out from under 8,000 pounds of guitar. Brilliant. I continue to listen to it over and over, and I want more. I did as instructed. I visited their Web site (where there wasn't much to see or hear, unfortunately). I signed up for their e-mail list. Hey Dozemarypool, send me stuff ! www.saucemagazine.com | originally published: 2003 |
Riverfront Times Music Awards '02 10 p.m.: Andy Stoutenborough pounds hard, complex rhythmic patterns that make use of every trick in the percussive handbook. Keith Mangles lays down fat, propulsive bass lines that lock in step with the drums. Ryan Stoutenborough hammers at his guitar, delivering powerhouse riffs cut with deliciously languid lead lines. Ryan sings lead, and although the lyrics are mostly indiscernible, the melodies and the emotions are clear as daylight and just as welcome. All these elements add up to Dozemarypool, a young band from St. Charles that's been constantly refining its sound, growing from gig to gig over the last year into one of the most consistently beautiful, inventive rock bands we've heard. www.rftstl.com | originally published: June 2 , 2002 |
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Dozemarypool Sub: Swirling, cascading storm of music Some time ago, I was happy to come across a track by Dozemarypool on a compilation put out by KWUR. Their contribution "The Champion" was the standout of the disc. I raved about it in a review for Sauce over a year ago. I had heard that a full-length release was on its way, so I waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. Well, good things come to those who wait. This self titled disc is comprised of earlier demos written between 2001 and 2003. It's a bit rough around the edges, revealing the "demo" status of the recordings, but it's a gem certainly unlike anything you'll hear coming out of St. Louis. Hopefully some right-minded industry folk will pay for these boys to hole up in a studio for a while and push out something that exhibits their full potential. The band -- Keith Mangles, bass; Ryan Stoutenborough, guitar and vocals; Andy Stoutenborough, drums create a swirling sound that sometimes crashes like storm-driven waves and other times quietly wanders around inside its own head. When reviewing "The Champion" last year, I described Dozemarypool as residing somewhere between Hum and Verve. And I'll stand by that, with Hum's hiss and mass and Verve's astral aspirations. Listening to this full-lengther, more bands come to mind incredible, heroic bands, like Colfax Abbey, Ride, Stone Roses, My Bloody Valentine. (Remarkable bands, all. You should go out and get you some.) These bands crafted tunes that could be trippy, quiet, loud, danceable, raging, washes of sound in turn or all at once. But Dozemarypool also reminds me of dare I say it? Jimi Hendrix. Now calm down. Ryan Stoutenbrough is not given to the pyrotechnics and acid-blues soloing that most people associate with Hendrix. I'm thinking of Hendrix' mellower fare with his drowsy strumming and crunchy tone brought on by crackling-hot amp tubes. Check out "Candleshoe," "The Sun Never Came Out," "Park Place #1," and "Park Place #2" to hear what I mean. Brother Andy Stoutenborough adds to the Hendrix comparison; his sometimes tumbling, crashing drums sound like Hendrix' drummer Mitch Mitchell. One of my favorite aspects of the tunes on "Dozemarypool" is that the melodies vocal and guitar veer off in directions you would not expect, zigging when you expect a zag. They do it on "Change Something," "Highwaters Input," and elsewhere. The Western ear has been trained to expect certain moves within songs, and Dozemarypool takes daring, out-of-the-blue turns that elevate the songs and dazzle the listener. In case you're curious, the band's name is one of many European lakes that claim to be the one into which King Arthur tossed Excalibur* and where the Lady of the Lake hangs out. *Actually, Arthur didn't do the tossing, but that's another story. Doesn't matter. Seek out this band. Seek out this disc. You'll be glad you did. |
