Sugar, spice, and overnighters in dank Italian jail cells-- these are the things that Dum Dum Girls' first record was made of. Equal parts girl-group gloss and brash punk energy, I Will Be paired the tinny jangle of Psychocandy-coated guitars with lead singer Dee Dee's exquisitely aloof vocals to create a vibe of timelessly cool abandon. It sounded like a girl gang had kicked the authority figures out of the principal's office, barricaded the doors, and taken to blasting their delinquent anthems like "Bhang Bhang, I'm a Burnout" and "Jail La La" over the school's loudspeaker.
The Dum Dums might have been the baddest girls on the scene, but they certainly weren't the only ones: over the past couple of years Vivian Girls, Best Coast, and Frankie Rose and the Outs have each dusted off the kitschy cultural detritus of 1960s girl-group pop and filtered it through a hefty dose of D.I.Y. grit. It's been a blast. But even the most enduring of the original practitioners carried some decidedly pre-feminist baggage (baby love, wide-eyed devotion, Svengalis), and at times the new stuff didn't feel too much more enlightened. Or at least it could have seemed that way if you made the mistake of looking for meaning solely on the surface of the songs.
Dum Dum Girls in particular had a way of reminding you that there was more to it than that. They had fun with irony; artifice; and winking, revisionist takes on musical history (Kristin Gundred's Ramones-nodding stage name Dee Dee; Richard "My Boyfriend's Back" Gottehrer's co-producing credit on both full-lengths) that reminded you of the simple, triumphant facts: these women were all pretty excellent pop songwriters, and this thing they were part of was the most visible all-female front in indie rock since the riot grrrl movement in the early 1990s. And yet, even the highlights of the girl-group garage scene (of which I Will Be is certainly one) still focused pretty narrowly on simple, youthful emotions and didn't seem to care much about aesthetic development. Some time around the third Vivian Girls LP, you couldn't help but wonder: Will any of these groups be bold enough to move forward? Will any of them stick around long enough to, well, grow up?
Only in Dreams is the first record of this wave able to form an answer to that question, and for that it feels admirably bold. Spurred by the death of Dee Dee's mother and the separation anxiety she felt while she and her husband (Crocodiles' Brandon Welchez) were touring with their respective bands, it's a statement of thematic maturity and emotional depth we've not yet heard from Dum Dum Girls-- nor many of their contemporaries. It builds on the momentum of this year's terrific and shimmery He Gets Me High EP, but it's even more of a hi-fi affirmation ("It's cool to record in [an] actual studio and use real mics," Dee Dee said recently) and an introduction of a whole new set of influences (Mazzy Star, the Pretenders) in the band's sound.
The first thing you notice is Dee Dee's voice. If you've seen the band live, you know: girl's got pipes. But you didn't get that from I Will Be, which kept it distorted and low in the mix. In interviews, she's been candid about her stage fright and her gradual acceptance of her role as a frontwoman, and her newfound confidence is pretty thrilling to hear on Only in Dreams. Vocally, Chrissie Hynde is the obvious reference point, but Dee Dee's less interested in aping Hynde's sneering, Jagger-like strut than channeling the lush depths of her own voice on tracks like "Bedroom Eyes". For the first time on a Dum Dum Girls record, the rest of the Girls sing backup, which adds even more fullness to the sound. As on He Gets Me High, Gottehrer shares a producing credit with the Raveonettes' Sune Rose Wagner, and they've effectively scrubbed the grit off the Girls' guitars until they glimmer.
Which brings us to the problem with Only in Dreams: the pristine production sounds great, but it makes the lack of complexity and occasional shortcomings-- the kind of issues that were easier to disguise, or perhaps shrug off, on I Will Be-- all too apparent. Most of the songs are mid-tempo, and there's little variation in the drum beats, phrasing, or song structure. Some people might also take issue with the relatively simplistic rhyme schemes, but thanks to Dee Dee's expressive vocals, that's not a problem. She's able to conjure powerful emotions from minimal imagery and simple, straightforward declarations. It's not much to look at on paper, but the way she holds the notes in "Heartbeat"'s bridge-- "I don't know/ Where to go/ To get away from this sorrow"-- is nothing less than a gutpunch.
There are 10 songs on Only in Dreams, and every one of them contains the word "you." Some of them Dee Dee wrote about her husband, and some she wrote about watching her mother succumb to cancer last year. Perhaps the most moving thing about Only in Dreams is that it's not always immediately apparent which of these people she's addressing; its state of longing feels universally applicable. "Heartbeat", "Wasted Away", and "Teardrops on My Pillow" can pass on a cursory listen for odes to romantic heartbreak, but the startlingly direct references to death ("It's a game, how tight/ Can you shut your eyes/ Shut out the light/ Death is so bright") make you look back and realize that there's a sense of loss throbbing throughout the record. (Dee Dee's mom played an important role in the band's aesthetic-- that's her on the covers of I Will Be and the self-titled debut EP.) There's a passing moment on "Caught in One" when she wishes to trade places with her ailing mother, but by the closer, "Hold Your Hand", she's facing down her own identity ("But she's not you/ No, she's not you") and finding the strength to begin picking up the pieces and rebuilding on her own. It's a step forward for her as a songwriter, articulating-- let alone sharing-- a feeling this intimate.
Nothing on Only in Dreams has the immediacy of a track like "Jail La La", so those looking for a retread might be disappointed. But songs like the slow-burning "Coming Down" show Dum Dum Girls pushing themselves in new directions-- you get the sense, if you hadn't before, that this band might be around for a while. Only in Dreams isn't a perfect record, but a little while down the line it might end up looking like the beginning of something-- the first steps forward for the band, or perhaps a raising of the bar for this entire revival. I wouldn't put it past Dee Dee to be the leader of the pack.
