Let’s get the obligatory shit out of the way. Something, something, Seinfeld reference, 1991/1992. Alright? Good. Art Vandelay has a really solid EP on their hands, especially for a band as young and early in the game as they are. That sounds like a backhanded compliment, though that isn’t the intent. To get right down to brass tacks, the bottom line is that Dull is a hell of a record.
Musically, Dull is a familiar sounding record. Without harping too much on genre tags, it’s very much a melodic punk record with copious touches of emo. It’s instantly recognizable. As far as contemporary bands go, there are a lot of commonalities with bands like Grown Ups, Tiny Moving Parts, and CSTVT. It’s melodic, but still gruff. The vocals are strong, and can go from a quiet, straight forward singing to a full on yelling. It’s exuberant and really sells the whole deal. This stands out most to be on songs like “Swell” and “Autodefenestration.”
Ultimately, there is a whole hell of a lot to like. Art Vandelay is a promising young band. They’ll accomplish a lot if they can keep building on this foundation. I’ll be excited to see how it goes. Really hard band to Google though.
Team Reasonable 