Dumb Instrument - No-One Knows What It's Like To Be Me

Release Date: May 3rd 2008
Label: Bad Tool Records

It was with quiet trepidation that I inserted this disc into my computer. I was not only worried about the style of music that was about to fall into my ears but also about the listing of the Harmonica on the inside cover; fortunately, Dumb Instrument's debut was nothing to be scared about.

The first thing that hits you upon listening to the opening track, 'The Exterminating Angels', is the strength of Tom Murray's accent. It's one of the components that make this album so utterly charming; in fact, you can't help but be utterly enchanted by the tenacity of the accent. The song itself tells the tale of asbo youth culture, in the terrorisation of community by hoodlums, this use of mundane social commentary in the songs leads to comparisons to similar acts such as Final Fantasy.

The following track, 'Hard On Heart', crashes onto the scene with heavy piano chords that disguise some thoughtful lyrics. After the chorus, the song introduces some melancholic strings that coincide with the wonderful line "looked up while smoking a regal, I looked out me airgun and murdered a seagull". Along the lines of reflective lyrics, 'What A Load Of Rubbish' uses the metaphor for household waste as a reflection of the protagonist's unhappy existence.

Despite the gorgeous entwining of the strings and piano on the majority of songs, 'That's What All the Hard Work Was For' decides a change of tack and substitutes the previous instruments for an acoustic guitar, which lends the song a sense of evolution compared to the others. Although, two thirds of the way through, it begins to tread water, one might think that if it had outstayed its welcome any longer, we might have been gasping for air.

'Reverse The Hearse' is the first song in which things come to a standstill. The ethereal introduction almost screams for attention but the concentration wanes quickly. An ode to the daunting prospect of mortality seems limp and unconvincing; particularly due to the lyric "You can shove death up your arse". Along with 'Jaffa Baws', a criticism at the segregation that ginger haired people seem to come across, which builds up tension sufficiently but fails to use it proficiently.

One of the highlights of the album is at the end of the final song, 'Suffering From Scottishness', in which there is a telephone call from an elderly woman. Even though it is superfluous in nature, it just doesn’t fail to delight and bring up a smile reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat.

The Scottish trio have produced a fantastic album which completely obliterates any previous misconceptions about Scottish Folk. But maybe not about Harmonicas.

XXXXXXXXXX

Dumb Instrument: On the internet

MySpace
Official Site