Band Of The Week #0056 - Dilly Dally
This week’s Band of the Week is Dilly Dally, who’s album ‘Heaven’ is out today via Partisan Records.
Toronto’s four-piece, Dilly Dally had huge success with their debut album, ‘Sore’, back in 2015. With that success, came a whole load of internal issues that caused the band to take some time apart, in order to focus on themselves and to heal. ‘Heaven’ is the culmination of what it’s like to find yourself lost in a positive spiral that you’ve created and feeling like the only way out is through self-destructive means, but eventually realising that catharsis is attainable once you give yourself enough space.
There is an instant sense of urgency, laid out in the opening track, ‘Feel Free’, which feels as though it delves into the process of tearing yourself to pieces in order to rearrange yourself to fit into your current surroundings. Change can be difficult for anyone, but when you’re thrust into a completely different world and constantly on the road – which at times can be claustrophobic – then sometimes the best thing to do, is to take a step back and be alone. This is what Dilly Dally have done with their second album, which is all at once a battle cry for salvation and a journey into hope.
‘Believe’ is one of those journeys into hope, where Katie Monks repeatedly tells the listener; “believe in yourself”. At first, you are welcomed into the safe space created by lethargic drums and a simple bass line that rolls in perfect cadence. Once the belief starts to seep into you, you are washed away with the powerful screams that Monks is so famed for, and almost like breaking waves, the guitars some screeching along with her. This is the perfect prelude to the album’s first single, ‘Sober Motel’ which is a shiver-inducing death rattle that sums up Monks’ description of ‘Heaven’ – “This feels like the album we’d make if the band died and went to heaven.”
‘Sorry Ur Mad’ is a chaotic and almost unsettling mix of Shoegaze and 70’s rock. Heavily distorted guitars create an atmosphere of metal scraping against metal, whilst the vocals evoke a white noise demonic growl, that you would expect to hear in the minds of the creatures that live in the TV, in the film Poltergeist. ‘Marijuana’ and ‘Pretty Cold’ find themselves sitting in a similar box, with the former having dreamlike vocals discussing a coping mechanism “Marijuana keep me still, takes all of the anxiety from seeping in” and the latter, sounding like a more updated and grittier version of The Talking Heads.
‘Bad Biology’ takes itself into the realms of Doom Metal, all the while conjuring that underwater dream state that Dilly Dally’s lethargic vocals and distorted guitar, do so well, where you find yourself swimming up from the dark space that always lingers in the periphery of the Dilly Dally universe. Though never allowing you to be there for too long, an air of hope comes to wrap you up in its embrace, in title track ‘Heaven’ which talks about the strength you can feel in trying to stay positive, even when the darkness is chasing you and trying to take hold.
Dilly Dally have unashamedly released an honest account of fighting to maintain positivity, and inherently proved that the struggle is worth it if you hold on long enough. In October, they will play a sold out show at Sebright Arms, to celebrate the release of ‘Heaven’ and I imagine it is going to be one hell of a show.
Feature by Tyler Damara Kelly