The hardest part about blogging is the endless barrage of new music—burnout is hard to avoid, and when I’m having an off day, everything sounds like something I’ve heard before.
And then a record comes over the threshold like this one.
Although there’s some Death Cab for Cutie, some Beatles, and some light folk familiarity here (think Bon Iver or Iron and Wine), “The King Can Drink The Harbor Dry” by The Dimes is at its essence a wholly original record. Maybe that’s why I found it so difficult to review. There’s little to compare it to here. Each song is crafted perfectly, from the intro to the fade out, from the music to the lyrics to the vocalization . . . But because it is so light, it’s easy to dismiss it at first as mere fluff. If you do this, you’ll miss out on a beautiful record. It just might be one of my favorite releases this year.
