After heading south to America and building up a devoted fan base, Toronto-based indie rock group Dinosaur Bones has finally released its long-awaited debut album, "My Divider."
Fans of the Dinosaur Bones EP will not be disappointed by the band's first full-length album, which was released on March 8 and supplements the EP's tracks with a varied collection of new material. The album, released by Dine Alone Records, was once again mixed and recorded by Jon Drew, who has previously worked with Canadian greats like Tokyo Police Club and The Arkells.
Though some of the EP's clean mellowness has been lost to crunchier guitar and an increasing contrast between vocals and instruments, Dinosaur Bones has arrived in style with a delightfully cohesive album.
The most notable aspect of "My Divider" is how readily listenable the album is, and how it only seems to get better with each listen, as more of the songs' components gradually reveal themselves. By carefully layering melodic instrumental harmonies with brooding, introspective lyrics, Dinosaur Bones has crafted an album that manages to be dreamy and laid back, but also maintains enough edginess to keep the album moving. Especially on tracks like "Life in Trees," the band uses just enough dissonance to highlight the album's underlying melodies.
Even more impressively, the band manages to make use of genuinely witty lyrics and complex rhythms without overtly drawing attention to them. Many of the musical traits that make "My Divider" so interesting to listen to, such as the unusual syncopation of "Sharks in the Sand" and "Hunters," are so carefully worked into the songs that an inactive listener could easily miss them.
Nothing encompasses Dinosaur Bones' skill for the melodic better than "Ice Hotels." Pairing ambience with delicately strummed guitar chords, "Ice Hotels" instrumentally displays all of the frigid emotional and physical beauty the song describes. Layered over this lush background, singer Ben Fox's voice is intimate and sincere as he sings of a "Toast to the newlywed petrified bride/ White-knuckled grip/ Toes that keep tapping."
From the sleepily spaced out end of "Ice Hotel," "My Divider" jumps abruptly to Dinosaur Bones' best known track, the tongue-in-cheek, guitar-driven "Royalty," which was originally included on the EP. Cocky and somewhat brash, "Royalty" shows off the opposite side of Dinosaur Bones' musical spectrum, with a throbbing bassline and self-assured lyrical delivery.
Dinosaur Bones is frequently, and aptly, compared to bands like Radiohead or The Smiths. "Life in Trees," for example, employs bell-like guitar and pensive lyrics that, while definitely giving a nod to the British rockers of their inspiration, manage to sound original and fresh. "We could be thieves and steal away after dark/ If only we sleep long enough to dream," starts off the angsty track, which drifts through a relatively minimalist, instrumentally driven soundscape.
The song slowly darkens to an ambiguous resolution, before being followed by the hypnotic "Point of Pride." The only song that comes close to sounding unoriginal is "N.Y.E.," on which Fox sounds almost eerily like Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, especially when his voice is super imposed over the very Strokes-esque guitar.
Despite this similarity, "My Divider" is impressively edgy, without ever seeming overwhelming.
Having already performed with some of the most influential contemporary indie bands, Dinosaur Bones is now focusing on their Canadian fan base and will start touring in April with Tokyo Police Club. Later this year, Dinosaur Bones will share the main stage with A Perfect Circle and Rise Against at Toronto's Edgefest. All that American fans can hope is that they return to the States before too long.
