dolly sods – self titled
It’s a rare thing for a local project to appear, disappear, reappear, and somehow put together anything beyond a reunion show or an anniversary showcase. Local bands are fleeting by nature, it’s an inconvenient truth. Buffalo’s dolly sods, however, have been reborn from ashes. After a years-long hiatus following guitarist/vocalist Jesse James Kaufman’s stint in Brooklyn, the trio–originally formed in 2021 from a pedigree of local mainstays like Tomoreaux, Award Show, and Passed Out–is back on home turf. Their self-titled debut EP, released January 16th, isn’t really a comeback though… It’s more of a long-overdue introduction, and now it’s our album of the week.
Recorded at GCR Audio with Jay Zubricky, the EP captures this icy, cosmic weight that pairs well with these subzero temps we’ve endured for the past couple weeks. While the studio recordings feature original drummer Andy Pothier, the current lineup has since solidified with Monika Lux behind the kit, joining Kaufman and bassist Nate Ward. Together, they’ve crafted a sound that occupies the dark, sludgy intersection of shoegaze and post-punk. It’s heavy enough to flirt with doom metal, yet it possesses this soaring, post-rock expansiveness that keeps you from getting completely buried by volume.
The lead single, “good old neon,” begins with a deceptive calm before giving way to the group’s signature: thick, hazy slabs of sound and crashing percussion. Kaufman’s vocals carry a striking, monotone quality, a kind of “dark magic” delivery that slots right in with the jagged and percussive blasts of instrumentation. The track builds remarkable tension, navigating the shifting arrangements with dynamics that will crush you and then reset your bones.
The crushing weight bleeds right into “greywater,” with an intro that hits with significant force, giving way to a deep and melodic verse where the vocals melt into the percussion. The track rips right open and feels miles wide in the chorus, utilizing post-rock swells to open it up. It’s followed up by “blackwater,” a more jagged, sparse offering that retains the band’s penchant for those droning, rhythmic hits.
“breakwall” is a straight palette cleanser. Running a fraction of the length of the rest of the tracks, this instrumental is a digital montage of cold, shoreline waves and muffled synth pads that creates a sonic, alien icescape. It’s a restorative moment of ambient pause, providing a breath of air before the record’s final, most ambitious movement.
The EP closes with “nevergreen,” a seven-minute epic that earns every second of its runtime. It’s arguably the EP at its most melodic, centered around a circular drumbeat and singing guitar lead. The transitions into the choruses are perfectly seamless; suddenly the vocals are soaring across a thickened wall of bass and guitar. The juxtaposition of lead and backup harmonies here is particularly good, marking a high point on the EP for the trio’s vocal arrangements. The massive wall eventually crumbles at the end of the track, leaving only a delicately plucked acoustic guitar–a moment of solitude you won’t find anywhere else on the record.
If you’re into bands like Deftones, Nothing, or Hum, dolly sods is a mandatory listen. The band is currently taking their massive sounds on the road through the end of winter, with stops across the width of NY and a date in Detroit. For those of us staying in Buffalo, we’ll just keep spinning the EP until these piles of snow turn into groundwater. dolly sods is now streaming, press play and then head on over to their bandcamp (below) for tour dates and digital downloads.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Ronald Walczyk