“Rimbaud Eyes”- Dum Dum Girls

“Lost Boys and Girls Club”, the first cut from the forthcoming Dum Dum Girls LP Too True was a cauldron churning effort. Drums lumbered and synthesizers muted the band’s color palette to a hazy grey, making Dee Dee Penny’s lingering voice darker in the process. The only common identifier it had with past works was its runtime, still clocking in at less than 4 minutes.

“Rimbaud Eyes”, the newest release from their 3rd full-length similarly tips its cap to the bands’ breakneck pace, while simultaneously moving into uncharted territory. The band previously paid tribute to French-poet Arthur Rimbaud with the galloping “Season in Hell”, but that jangling slice of garage pop fit in comfortably with the work of peers like Best Coast. “Rimbaud Eyes” on the other hand dives headlong into an 80s abyss, imagining a white wedding of the Bangles and Disintegration-era Cure. Here the drums are in an unshakable lockstep and the bass is back to its chugging pace. Jules’ guitar work contorts like the Stone Roses’ John Squire caught in a never-ending game of Twister. And then there’s Dee Dee, voice trapped in a far-off cavern; crying “every morning’s atrocious” and hiding from the dawning Sun. When surrounded by such self-assured performances, her crippled vocal turn registers as “weak”. But as the titular poet of the tune once asked, “what soul is without its flaws?”

Too True drops January 28 through Sub-Pop and you can listen to “Rimbaud Eyes” here.