Search - Doleful Lions :: Out Like a Lamb

Magnificent!

W. Johnson | Fuquay-Varina, NC | 11/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How does a melodic pop band grow to become one of independent music's most distinct voices? To fully appreciate Doleful Lions' new album, Out Like A Lamb, one must understand the journey of the band has taken through wondrous lands filled with fantastic characters, and where as in all fairy tales our heroes find their true voice. This is a story of a band's development that, in a just world, would take them from shoebox to household name in five years.



"And when Neu! make a noise, it sounds just like the Beach Boys" (Doleful Lions "The Sound Of Cologne")



When sifting through a shoebox full of demo tapes in 1997, we popped on a cassette marked "Doleful Lions" into the Parasol tape deck and our jaws promptly hit the ground. We immediately contacted Jonathan who was in the process of moving from Chicago to Chapel Hill about releasing his record. Upon arriving in Chapel Hill he quickly assembled a band and recorded the resulting debut, Motel Swim (1998), with Mitch Easter and Chris Stamey. The album met with uniform praise from the pop community struck by its melodic, melancholic sounds recalling the heyday of the 80s Southeastern pop school led by both Easter and Stamey back in the day. "A form of joyful noise that recalls the spirit of early rock and roll and incorporates influences from some of the best bands since" (Pop Matters)



Motel Swim was largely a straight-ahead pop record which showcased songs with a darker side and which hinted at the changes soon to come to the band. The album opener "The Sound Of Cologne" made it evident that Jonathan appreciated pop distilled by atypical influences ("And when Neu! make a noise/They sound just like The Beach Boys").



It was on their next album that the Doleful Lions embraced these influences and took a sharp turn from their debut. It's here that the band truly began to find its own voice. "Prodigiously smart, criminally catchy indie-pop" (Gear Magazine) Gone was the strict guitar-bass-drums line-up from Motel Swim, heck, the whole Doleful Lions backing band were gone replaced by new players including creative foil Dave Jackson. Jonathan immersed the Doleful Lions in a spacious world of sound now adding keyboards, drum programming, and lots of extraneous sounds, but most notably, The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1999) revealed Jonathan's new found lyrical focus. Songs like "Sweet Driller Killer," "Destroy All Monsters," and the stunning title track invented new worlds as backdrops for songs...



As Jonathan earnestly sings with straight face and full voice of demons and the end of the world ("And now I see lamb's blood on your door/We both know that it can't save us now/The Sunday morning star is on the rise/I can't see the longing in your eyes/That's okay my sweetheart cause I love you/I wanted to be the one in the end/And though my blood is spilling around you/I could be your friend/So, don't even cry the rats are coming/The werewolves are here") listeners find that these are actually not horror tales, but poignant love songs cloaked in fantastic tales. "Sixties revisited by modern-day spacers. This is what The Beach Boys' 20/20 might have sounded like if you heard it under sedation, from down a corridor, with the pitter-patter of light drizzle in the background..." (Uncut Magazine)



On 2000's Song Cyclops, Volume One, Jonathan's obsession with B-movie baddies continued to boil over with Parasol releasing the first of two intended volumes collecting Jonathan's home demos. The 22 tracks about the likes of Sasquatch, witches, and ghouls again served as allegorical tales of psychological angst and tormented love and critics responded with wide-spread praise. A roving horde of flesh eating zombies never garnered so many worthy accolades! "A beautifully bizarre indie-rock Narnia that dead-rings a lost Radiohead soundtrack to Dungeons and Dragons. One of the most original albums of the year" (Gear Magazine)



The stage had been set. Doleful Lions had proven to excel at crafting tiny epics and twisting universal themes. Their fan base was growing. The critics' were listening. And the time was at hand for Doleful Lions to do something really special.



With their 4th album the band now offer what may prove to be their crowning achievement. Out Like A Lamb successfully collects all of the best pieces that have made Doleful Lions such a compelling listen from the start. The steady hum of guitars is offset by extraneous noise. Otherworldly sounds and aural vistas are grounded by melody and an uncommonly great voice. Beach Boys derived harmony coalesces with spacious musical skies. Jonathan's head is in the clouds, but his feet are feet on the ground as he delivers heartbreaking tales in his most intimate voice yet. His mythical and historical beings are juxtaposed by plainly, but poetically told tales stretching from "Sunshine Spartacus" and "Dear Lazarus" to the heartrending goodbye "Texas Is Beautiful".



"On the wings of my leaving, this feeling is the sound, of a billion stars" (Doleful Lions "Out Like A Lamb")



Jonathan has pared the band down to a comfortable trio. Dave Jackson returns with his collection of vintage contraptions and exceptional recording technique. Aynsley Pirtle resurfaces as a full band member, playing a much larger role by singing lead on a number of songs and adding her vocal sweetness to others. The songwriting, recording and production work are gorgeous and illustrate that the singer who once professed his love for both The Beach Boys and Neu! has now found a means of meshing these elements in music rather in mere words.



Unifying these disparate devices, themes, and styles proves to be the Out Like A Lamb's greatest strength offering both sides of the coin to a musical dichotomy in only a way that a doleful lion could.



Listen to Out Like A Lamb and envision faraway lands over distant horizons and hear the sound of dreams. Meet heroes who are fragile, heroes that are strong, and heroes that are searching for love.



Heroes like the Doleful Lions.



Heroes like you and me.

"

Sweet, sweet melodies and great lyrics too!

missed cleo | VIRGINIA USA | 08/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of my old friends is in this band and I was almost afraid to listen to it; I was afraid I might not like it. I am so very happy to report that my fears were unrealized. This album is such a treat. As mentioned above, it's sweet and melodic; it's pop-style indie with twinges of cool 60's style folk-rock on some tracks. If you enjoy bands like Velocity Girl, Belle & Sebastian, or Kings Of Convenience, you should give this a whirl. The instrumentation is richly layered, but not overdone and the lyrics are introspective without being heavy. I've listened to Out Like A Lamb more than fifteen times and it continues to sound better and better. And, for what it's worth, the album title is actually Out Like A Lamb, not Lamp!"