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Dr. Dog
EASY BEAT
(National Parking)
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Last year was a pretty good one for Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog: an opening slot on two My Morning Jacket tours and a glowing profile in the New York Times. Not bad for a band whose debut album, Easy Beat, wasn’t released till last month. Yes, Dr. Dog may have a backlash coming, but it won’t come from people who hear Easy Beat. With a mix of Philly blue-eyed soul harmonies, Supertramp-strength hooks, and Neutral Milk Hotel’s sense of balance, Easy Beat bears the mark of genius — it all sounds effortless. Don’t be fooled, though: the woozy piano rollick of the opening "The World May Never Know" may hide beneath tossed-off production, but it’s clear these boys spent many hours studying Beach Boys harmonies and Beatles arrangements. "Fool’s Life" starts off sounding like the Bernard Herrmann Psycho shower scene, slips into an elegiac organ line, steals a lyric from David Byrne’s "Wild Wild Life," and ends up on a carousel ride gone horribly wrong; yet it all makes sense. There’s enough depth and weirdness in these nine songs to appeal to lo-fi obsessives and enough hooks to keep their more normal friends humming all day long. (Dr. Dog open for the Union Ares, the Reputation, and Radar Bros. tonight, April 21, at T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street in Central Square; call 617-492-BEAR.)
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