Dredg The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
by Derric Miller
Staff Writer
Dredg is one of those bands that figured out how to be “artsy” while still creating music listeners want to hear. The song that catapulted them into the mainstream dialogue was the moody and slightly sinister “Of the Room” back in 1998, and over 10 years later, the band has become a somewhat different musical entity. There isn’t a lot of darkness on The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion, but it’s still Dredg … and Dredg is one talented unit.
You meet the “Pariah” first, as the opening track. It begins with a sing-song, almost children’s nursery rhyme type of vocal, and become a noisy, talk-sing composition, complete with changing rhythms and time schemes, quirky keys, and existential lyrics. You’ll even get a Led Zeppelin type cadence 2:50 into the song. There’s a lot to digest, which is always the case with Dredg.
It makes sense for the brief “Drunk Slide” to lead into “Ireland.” The opening refrain, “I’ll never leave this place, no I’ll never leave this place. I’ll never leave the place that I was born,” dissects the isolationist inside both individuals and society at large. While it’s playful and energetic, the lyrics are also damning. Why damning? Because Dredg isn’t the sort of band to applaud closed-mindedness. There’s more here than meets the eye, kids …
“Gathering Pebbles” is one of the more straightforward tracks on the new release, especially the accessible and musical chorus. Lead singer Gavin Hayes’ vocal talents are evident all over the new album, but this might be his best track. This should land on radio and garner them some level of attention.
One of the craziest songs is “Savior.” It’s sheer noise at times, and then almost ‘80s pop in its purposeful musical and lyrical goofiness, especially the first line, “It makes me wish I was a banger.” About the only band you could maybe compare them to here is Weezer, except Dredg is not nearly as polished and doesn’t want to be.
Another radio-friendly track — and perhaps the second best next to “Ireland” — is “I Don’t Know.” The chorus again hypnotizes, with lines like, “I don’t know if I’ve been before, in a past life, something in another time … I don’t know.” The simple keys really slap the point across. The passage, “I don’t know if I’ll go somewhere special when I die, so I’ll just go on living my way,” is perchance an indictment on those faithful religious folks out there. Or, are they asking you to believe in something, anything? Even more so, are they telling you that belief and non-belief aside, let others live as they choose? Yeah, that’s Dredg for you … you may not know what they are thinking all the time, but as long as they make you think, it’s check and mate for the band.
“Down to the Cellar” is an intricate, building instrumental that showcases the musical talent these guys wield. They can get away with writing instrumentals, if only to give the listener’s brain a chance to compute what they’ve just learned. This flows into the final song, “Stamp of Origin: Horizon,” that is mostly spoken word recordings after Hayes’ extremely Zen lyrics. You’ll hear the aforementioned, “I don’t know if I lived in a past life,” and also “Keep moving forward, keep moving forward” as the music washes over you.
So, The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion is Dredg, well, moving forward. Don’t expect them to recreate what they did in the past, but do expect both the artful and contemplative in their work. Regardless of how existential the lyrics are, Dredg still writes some damn fine melodies and Rock songs. It’s just the icing on the cake to start questioning your own existence and everyone else’s once the final notes on The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion fade away …
Label: Ohlone Recordings
Track listing:
1. “Pariah”
2. “Drunk Slide”
3. “Ireland”
4. “Stamp of Origin: Pessimistic”
5. “Light Switch”
6. “Gathering Pebbles”
7. “Information”
8. “Stamp of Origin: Ocean Meets Bay”
9. “Saviour”
10. “R U O K?”
11. “I Don’t Know”
12. “Mourning This Morning”
13. “Stamp of Origin: Take a Look Around”
14. “Long Days and Vague Clues”
15. “Cartoon Showroom”
16. “Quotes”
17. “Down to the Cellar”
18. “Stamp of Origin: Horizon”
HRH rating: 7.8/10