ALBUM REVIEW: Mothership – Dance Gavin Dance

DANCE GAVIN DANCE have never had the easiest time as a band. Countless line up changes plagued them for years and it’s often felt like they’ve struggled to escape the shadow of original vocalist Jonny Craig‘s many troubles. However over the last few years it would seems that things have finally started to settle down for them and they seem to have a stable line up. Despite these past issues they are now releasing their seventh album Mothership and it is certainly a bold statement from the band.

DANCE GAVIN DANCE have always been one of the most experimental bands in post-hardcore and Mothership continues this trend. The guitar work is often very complex and features some irregular time signatures. The use of a flute during the intro of Young Robot shows some of the more eccentric touches on this album. Flossy Dickey Bounce is as bizarre as its title suggests, mixing electro-pop and metalcore brings back bad memories of the crunkcore phase from a several years back. This is an incredibly diverse album but unfortunately work out. Flossy Dickey Bounce is certainly the lowest point of album, it feels like they were just trying a bit too hard to be crazy. Petting Zoo Justice is a great example of the diversity on the album, easily the heaviest track it roars out the gates with blast beats as Jon Mess delivers the most aggressive vocal performance on the album.

Elsewhere it’s Tilian Pearsons clean vocals that really bring about the more diverse moments. His vocals are as poppy as it gets when it comes to this kind of music and DANCE GAVIN DANCE really try to make the most of this. He certainly takes centre stage over Jon Mess for the majority of the album. His range is certainly impressive but sometimes his vocals can become a little grating. Fortunately whenever it feels like they might get too annoying Jon Mess comes in for some vocal interplay.

Mothership is a complete mess of an album but in many ways it’s admirable. DANCE GAVIN DANCE are a band clearly brimming with ideas and they try their hardest to fit them all into this album. Occasionally it doesn’t work out but they manage to offer up several surprises throughout the album. They might never see the success of some of the more commercial bands to come from the post-hardcore scene, but DANCE GAVIN DANCE prove themselves to be one of the most interesting and unpredictable bands the genre has to offer.

Rating: 7/10

Mothership is out now via Rise Records.

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