By Liz Belilovskaya

Smith Westerns’ Dye It Blonde is a Beatles tribute/imitation album that’s almost good enough for listeners to wish Apple released this album instead of The Beatles #1s  last November. It is as if the iconic band returned and modernized to fit into the lazy groove of the present. The vocals featured throughout the album are wispy, light and airy while the music is pleasant yet devoid of edge. It’s a lovely overall auditory experience but not revolutionary by any means. 

The first song “Weekend” is a simplistic easy breezy piece. It comes off sounding like The Strokes went on a date with The Beatles and they had a calm musical offspring. The music is complementary to the vocals. The smooth vocals are complements with just enough modern technical elements to modernize the sound and avoid cover banditude. The organic drums play sweetly in tune to the electric guitars; emphasizing long and caressing melodies.

“Still New” is a lovely slower tempo song with musical elements that echo Queen and vague nuances that recall Led Zeppelin’s slower, non-hardcore songs. “Imagine” shares its name with the Lennon’s classic, but is starkly dissimilar. It’s a happy-emotion provoking song, driven by bubbly, bell-like sounds that pop–up mid construction, along with electric guitars and heavy synthesizers.

“All Die Young” implements heavy manipulated vocals, though not as much as the heavy duty techno music that’s hot these days. It is heavy enough for a Beatles-like album, however. The synth creates a seamless transition between the vocals and the music; forcing them to blend. Female choir vocals give this composition some depth. “Falling In Love” is also heavily mixed and features more powerful drums. It’s faster-paced but not much different from the rest of the album.

The piano-fueled “End Of The Night” features drums, guitar and vocal combinations that fuse rhythm elements of both the Beatles and Dead Man’s Bones for a loose, yet full sound. The song is conceptually sharp, but musically similar to the balance of the album. Luckily, “Only One” is situated to break the monotony. Its opening is adventurous, its pulse is more potent, and the track’s structure is more organized and rough. The lush, steady progression of the song is clearly inspired by British pop rock with hints of REM-style guitar implementation.

“Smile” with its Arcade Fire meets Vampire Weekend on a post breakup vacation aesthetic, is smirk inducing at best. The piano gives it a romantic, melancholy bar lounge quality, with a solo  fit for a jazz club. “Dance Away” is cool in the beginning due to the upbeat tempo but again, it mirrors the wispy, calm feel that colors this album. The lead vocalist is too in tune with the melody, rather than having the melody layered over the vocals. layering a melody over it. Synths give it somewhat of an edge, but not much.

Finally we polish off the album with the calm, mellow “Dye The World.” It’s very groovy and musically sound, but weak lyrically. The consistent melody is replicated using all the interments in the bands musical arsenal.

Dye It Blonde is a sweet record that’s polished and sophisticated to the point of teetering into boring territory. The vocals are too similar to The Beatles and it’s hard not to consider that with each new song that plays. Curiously, this similarity makes it hard not to like it. It’s a grown up record, not wild, revolutionary or heavy on the senses, but relaxing, intuitive to an adult’s sense of composition. There is a very tangible and approachable quality to it that speaks to everyone that grew up listening to the Beatles. What it lacks in experimentation and originality, it makes up as a tribute to a great band, which makes this record is quite lovely.
Smith Westerns – Weekend by forcefieldpr
out of 5

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