The Unheard Music (Volume LIII)

Name 15 bands from Chicago of the last fifteen years.  Maybe a real astute observer of Chicago music (or an avid fisherman) would name Dolly Varden among those 15 but few others could.  That's a shame. They used to be my neighbors when I lived in Wicker Park and they still make remarkable music fifteen years on, meet Dolly Varden, featuring the husband/wife harmonies of Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen.  They originally formed in the early 1990's as Stump the Host, releasing "California Zephyr" on Minty Fresh.  Then they put out thier first real album 'Mouthful of Lies' as Dolly Varden in 1995. Considering the similar husband/wife dynamic, a sonic similarity and similar urban background, you wouldn't be far off in comparing Dolly Varden to Indie stalwarts Yo La Tengo, or maybe a kinder, gentler X.  Whichever way you try and sell them, they're not nearly as recognizable as Yo La Tengo or X, not even close.  While they enjoy a somewhat higher profile in their hometown of Chicago, they oughta be bigger than they are.  I'm doing my own small part ot help raise their profile.

My first taste of Dolly Varden was with their second album, 1998's Thrill of Gravity.  It contained an old Stump the Host song "California Zephyr" rechristened now as a DV song.  The real stunner from Gravity was "The Old In and Out", a dark slow burn of a song with a simple groove and nice harmony vocals.  My only (very minor) issue with the song was the use of a harmonica microphone for the lead vocal, which gives it an (intentionally) tinny sound.  It's an effect that Mark Sandman of Morphine used to use a lot to good effect but for some reason on this song, it seems out of place.  The effect does not diminish the impact or quality of the song one iota, I just thought it was worth noting.  Two years later, Dolly Varden released Dumbest Magnets which left behind some of the somber moodiness of Thrill in favor of downright sunny material.  The best track on the album "I Come To You" is one of those indelible melodies that I dare you to get out of your head after just one listen.  Despite the solid efforts of 2002's Forgiven Now and 2007's The Panic Bell, I would tell any budding DV fan to begin with Dumbest Magnets and go from there. This is the great Chicago band few people outside of the 312/773 area codes know; go forth and spread the gospel.

Have a great weekend, enjoy the music and keep your fingers crossed for The Chicago Cubs, they need good vibes, I posted this an hour before Game Two of the NLDS.

Comments

[TWM]

Thanks for the tunes, Ken. I have a couple of their albums, and I saw them live a couple times -- I thought they were better in the studio than on the stage.

Hope that Cubs fans (and probably Sox fans) are ready for an unhappy weekend...

TWM

[drcastrato]

Dolly Varden played at Drake during my freshman year. I was pretty stoked that the school had brought ANY band in to play, so despite never hearing them before, I went to check them out. A very small crowd attended, but I was pretty impressed with their songs, and especially the male/female harmony vocals. They threw in that Stump the Host 7" if you bought the Mouthful of Lies CD, which I did. I still enjoy that CD but never got around to getting another one., or seeing them live again. I did buy a solo Steve Dawson album a few years ago with a best buy gift card, but i never really got into it. Thanks for the tip. I'll seek these out.