DOT – ‘DOT’.
DOT – Toulouse/Bath, France/United Kingdom.
Cover photo credit: Imag’in Live – Click Here.
The two-piece band dynamic is somewhat popular these days with big names such as Royal Blood, Slaves, Sleaford Mods etc… garnering the majority of the popularity and credit to the formula and fair play to them. However, it is not just in this arena where this formula has credit for the underground beckons.
Imagine a stylistic maelstrom where Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave and Queens Of The Stone Age merged and begun a more inclined Stoner Rock project that slowly ebbed towards Grunge before giving into a mutual love of the energy provided recklessly by Punk and Hardcore. This is the first impression of DOT, a band somewhere, somehow located between Toulouse and Bath.
The excellent thing about DOT is how brashly they throw themselves into it. Bands who solely use a bass guitar are finding ever the more inventive ways of using the instrument in such a way that it either doesn’t seem possible or sounds nothing like itself and that is exactly the DOT way.
If ‘Bad Luck’ is the Stoner anthem with a sudden burst of life then ‘Taste Of Life’ is its destination. The second is Garage Punk n’ Roll in the verses before falling back to another slow chorus in utter contrast – ‘I count to ten and dive into the void unknown – And now come what may’.
DOT, to use the standardised old cliche compliment when talking for two-pieces sound three times the size. It’s a well used and worn out compliment but that doesn’t nullify its truth. DOT seamlessly transition from mid-tempo Grunge to fast Punk and Rock n’ Roll and then back to trudging Stoner-amble and it works, unambiguously so. This is minimalism at its most maximised.
‘Tell Me A Tale’ is your begrudging cumbersome bash at politics while ‘Devil Should Have Know’ echoes Audioslave beautifully and its own way as you struggle to sit still due to the immense groove.
‘Airs and Graces’ shows DOT’s song writing skills at strength again as the Chris Cornell (RIP) esque vocals glide over the harsh but refined distortion of a bass guitar that is really out-doing itself.
However, this project isn’t all focussed on only half of its composition. The human behind the percussion goes by the name of Robin and Robin’s output is nothing but perfect, especially standing out on the Punk-Rock song of the release, ‘Dark Bear’. DOT tease you and each time they do it is at the most opportune of moments and you love and hate them for it.
You can’t help but feel that the ebbing groove of ‘Swimming In Fire’ is inspired by the European refugee crisis of the past few years as DOT show sensitivity to their surroundings further highlighting their Punk streak. ‘White Rabbit’ continues this beak outlook in a Nirvana-Punk/Queens Of The Stone Age Cross that leaves you looking like an idiot playing the “air-bass” and hoping the nosey elderly neighbours aren’t watching…
I could try to find some semblance of criticism in the final two tracks or I could sit and tell you how great they are but I won’t. Because there is none of the former and I will leave you to articulate the latter.
Find DOT below:
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