BRIGHTER NOW

Among the myriad of cassette-only releases that came out of the LPDs first couple of active years, Brighter Now doesn't seem like an obvious candidate to become the band's debut LP, but that is exactly what happened (both the Chemical Playschool 3+4 and Apparition date from the same period and are far supperior). And it happened on the same label that gave us the Marine Girls! Remember them? Not? Anyways... The sound on Brighter Now is very minimal. Obscure hand-held percussion and busy bass guitars patterns carry many of the (rather rudimentary) songs, some of which you might find yourself singing along to already on second listen. That goes especially for the opening Red Castles and the haunting City Ghosts, but on tracks like Apocalypse Then and Louder After Six the Dots sound unconfindent and unfocused. Many of the things that makes the LPDs so greated are sorely absent from this release; the askew chord sequences, the majestic soundscapes, the impossible-to-ignore vocal delivery. Ka-Spel wears his heart on the sleeve on the instantly memorable The Wedding, but the piano backing is basic in a way that comes across as amateurish rather than minimalist. To this day it seems that the LPDs give their early cassettes equal status to the early LP releases, but to me it is frustrating that the record that is generally perceived to be the band's debut album doesn't contain early LPD classics like Defeated, Voices or the amazing The Light in My Little Girl's Eyes. Brighter Now kept me away from the other Dot's releases for many years. It's still a good record, though. It's only in the light of later releases from this great band that I find Brighter Now a bit disappointing.

I have never told anyone this, but for some reason I think of early Status Quo when I hear this record. You know that one with Pictures of Matchstick Men on it. And that's a compliment!