With two couples comprising a five-piece lineup, we can only imagine the verbal bottle rocket-chucking that Radiation City bassist Matt Rafferty has rolled his eyes at. Dude was almost out of a gig after its last release, 2013’s Animals In The Median, as founding couple Cameron Spies and Lizzy Ellison had had enough of each other and, thusly, the band they founded. A reconciliation was built around the pair apparently being able to bury the hatchet long enough to start writing again.
And while there is a slight sandpapery edge to tracks like “Oil Show” and “Come And Go,” the result isn’t as angry, double-edged or passive-aggressively tense as one might expect. The shiny-happy ’60s dream-pop has been augmented by riffier synths and a reverb-ed out pulse that scratches at the surface of the ’80s (especially on the ironically named “Futures”), with the entire package boasting stunning vocal performances by all involved. Ain’t romantic angst grand?
—Kevin Stewart-Panko
