The Dudley Corporation "In Love With" (Absolutely Kosher)
By Peter A. Holden
Thursday. Jun 16, 1:40 AM
Calculated stop and start rampancy from Ireland.

I would say there is a quiet brilliance about The Dudley Corporation, but that only suggests the tip of the iceberg. For a band with such a variety of styles smashed into one package, and who have spent the last five years or more crafting said style, it is almost insulting to limit them to quiet brilliance. I think there really is no one term that encompasses their particularly refined and strategically various character. One thing is certain: In Love With is a masterpiece of calculated stop and start rampancy (yes that sounds like an oxymoron, but read on).

The Dudley Corporation transcend any punk-ish pitfalls that sometimes mire indie bands’ paths. It’s no easy task to write music that shifts gears several times in a song and have it make any damn sense. I suppose “sense” depends on your perspective really, but what is not debatable is the tightness with which such transitions are made. The Dudley Corporation finess their songs into new directions: they don’t force them. With the grace and intelligence of Stephen Malkmus, they glide from crescendo to slow legato pace then back to crescendo, all the while riding a melody that never strays from a forward outlook. Chordal changes dot the horizon, but never betray the timing of their appearance in the song. The Dudley Corporation are the anti-thesis of predictable, to put it mildly.

Tonally speaking, they are in a class left bare by the late great Jeff Buckley. There is a real sensibility of elegance in the tones they use and capture on the record: smooth, reverb-y clean guitars that seem to decay in a perfectly natural manner, drum sounds with a crispness not oft mastered by indie bands, overall sheen that one gets only when they know what they are after in the studio. There are no studio tricks, there are no frills. “Count Me In” almost sounds like a homage to Mr. Buckley. The Dudley Corporation just get it right. Audiophiles will relish this kind of production. Pristine.

If I had a star rating system I would give it a 10 for production, a 10 for songwriting, and an 11 for character of being. The Dudley Corporation deserve every inch of credit they will receive.
www.thedudleycorporation.com
www.absolutelykosher.com

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Peter A. Holden

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