Review: Dez Dare ‘These Days Are Wild & Blind’
Dez Dare or Darren Smallmanas he’s best known to his friends and family, is nothing if not prolific, putting out a record every year since the project was launched, commencing with 2021’s Hairline Ego Trip, 2022’s Ulysses Trash, 2023’s Perseus War, 2024’s A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin. and 2025’s CHERYL! Your Love Shines Down Like A Supernova’s Death.
Darren, who is originally from Australia, has a lengthy musical history stretching back to 1992 and a number of bands including Warped, Toad, Thee Vinyl Creatures, The Sound Platform as well as one-off recording project El Grumpos. For a while he put music to one side to focus on label business with the likes of God Unknown, Battle Worldwide and Low Transit Industries. The tracks on These Days Are Wild & Blind promise to be ‘more personal, introspective and diverse in tone than previous albums’, well that’s me intrigued.
When I’m Alone (I Forget You’re Real) is a curious mix of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd whimsy and the Flaming Lips, just before the latter started to become insufferable from 1999 onwards. There’s a little fuzz peppered in, but the outright melodicism of the track relegates it more to the background. A wonderfully uplifting opener. Dunning-Kruger On HIhas Devo vibes but with a power pop hookiness, think The Knack and The Cars. A superbly written track and demonstrates an artist brimming with self-assurance and confidence.
With Insolvent Soldiers, Rocket From The Crypt may come to some listeners minds as there is a definite rock ‘n’ roll vibe going down and a cool swagger which recalls John Reis and co, while We’re Not Broken Sunshine by comparison is mournful and would fit in perfectly on the Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind soundtrack alongside cuts by Beck and John Brion. There’s a little Magazine style creepiness too with vocals bearing a slight similarity to the great Howard Devoto. A stand-out.
demonstrates an artist brimming with self-assurance and confidence…
Baroque ‘60s pop seems the order of the day with You Woke Up On My Side Of Time, and groups such as The Left Banke, no bad thing. The Days Are Longer When You’re Around is positively exuberant with a strong driving quality; fans of ‘80s new wave and bands such as Modern English, especially I Melt With You, will be overjoyed by what’s presented here. I Need Your Fire is a mix of James Chance avant-jazz-funk and ‘70s hard rock ala Alice Cooper, bizarre yet brilliant. Beef Down. Fuck Face! is solid ‘90s stoner rock with riffing akin to Fu Manchu, and Belly Full Of Beasts is reminiscent of Paisley Underground crew Green On Red and that band’s love of psychedelia and alt-country; I ain’t complaining.
Good Times In Blame Valley is an earworm that, from the off, had me nodding my head throughout; it’s the kind of indie, like Sugar for instance, that used to be made before Oasis came along and turned everything into a boring laddy pub rock singalong fest. Atrophy vs. Soul has a slight krautrock feel with a driving motorik beat and Neu like tendencies, which makes it positively captivating. Finally, You Don’t Shine The Way You Think is a low-key acoustic number with a haunting surf-like quality, and which serves as the perfect conclusion to the album.
The great thing about any Dez Dare release is that it leaves you thrillingly uncertain throughout as to what to expect sonically, and this album proves to be no different.
Label: God Unknown Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
