Dentals - Tennessee

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 26 / 6 / 2012

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Switzerland is not really famous for its fabulous pop bands (except maybe for Kleenex/LiLiPUT, but they were more a post punk act than a pop band, in my opinion), but I guess the Dentals wants to change all that. This four-piece formed ten years ago, but haven't released an album until now, so I suppose that the thirteen songs presented on ’Tennessee’ represents a kind of retrospective of their best songs so far. The press sheet that came with my review copy mentions The Lucksmiths, and on some of the songs, they are not far off. At least musically. Lyrically, there are few bands that can match the wit and charm of the (now defunct) Australian trio, and the Dentals are not even close, I'm sad to say. That is not to say that they don't try. Reading through the lyrics in the booklet, I get the feeling that they really want to be clever and funny, but sorry guys. Better luck next time. With that said, the music is not bad at all! The first band that came to mind for me was Finnish indiepop band Ultrasport, who released a couple of albums in the early 2000s. But after listening to the whole album, I can also understand why they include bands like Nada Surf and Death Cab For Cutie amongst their influences. About two thirds the songs are acoustic, Lucksmiths-ish pop tunes, and the rest are more electric, indie rock-ish songs. Do I need to tell you which part I like best? Since this is the debut album, I don't want to be mean to the boys in the band. So, I want to finish off this review by saying that it will be interesting to hear the next album, despite the somewhat weak lyrics.

Track Listing:-

1 A Song Not About Beer
2 I Am an Artist
3 Kings Without Crowns
4 I Love You Even More
5 Heading for the Door Again
6 Not Every Idiot Knows How to Drive a Car
7 Devil in My Hand (Pt. 1)
8 Devil in My Hand (Pt. 2)
9 Career for Beer
10 Give Me a Second Chance
11 I Am Well But You Are Paul Weller
12 Mentally Retarded
13 B-Side

Band Links:-

http://www.thedentals.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thedentals
https://twitter.com/thedentals
https://plus.google.com/117587168270822278553
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Dentals

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