Warmth. Melodic, moldering glows. Nothing too fast. Nothing too loud. Constrained, but jumpy and really catchy. That’s tough stuff to pull off because it runs along the ridge of slipping down the steep cliffs of boredom, corniness, or cliché. Pulling the string from Superchunk’s long legacy, echoing the ache and drive of The Carrie Nations’ Be Still, and reminiscent of the sweat-cooling, mellower parts of Sexy, this is another example of DIY punk not necessarily sounding “punk” to the outside listener. And that’s totally an advantage here because Dirty Marquee can both run under the radar and totally soar without a lot of tight-ass, honky pigeonhole constraints. Excellent all around.
–todd (Squirmy)