Release Date: August 9, 2011
Family of Love is a five-song EP by DOM. In each song, the band can weave you into a snuggly, fuzzy and dreamy cocoon or make you dance as if you were (to run with the cocoon cliché) a butterfly.
Family of Love’s songs go above standard pop songs to make your listening experience almost like taking a drug. Each track takes you to a very specific nirvana. When the songs are examined closely, you see the band is extremely (almost violently) serious about making music. There are catchy keys and riffs, and songs such as, “Damn,” “Family of Love” and “Telephone” are infectiously catchy with simple single-note and staccato perfection. It was as if The xx took all the ecstasy to cheer up while still writing about the same highly individual and deeply personal life situations and just coming out and saying, “Yes, I might be making fun of myself, but it’s so catchy you can’t do anything about it.”
Using all the negative things a band can be branded these days, DOM have still kept their integrity as songwriters and musicians. The small details are the ones that make Family of Love what it is.
“Family of Love” puts you into the euphoric blur that Ecstasy and Wine (My Bloody Valentine) does and makes you dance like Foster the People or MGMT. “Damn” is the same way, but that little bit of surf rock-inspired guitar work and faster tempo are the song’s strengths. While “Telephone” (the EP’s opener) is a more down-tempo pop song with dark themes and an almost comical approach to emotions portrayed in the lyrics. The band uses a sample of a telephone being dialed that plays along to the riff in cheeky, bittersweet glory.
DOM has perfected their craft of songwriting on this EP because they have managed to bring immediately to your attention the small details that you might miss on your first or second listen. You’ll be so engaged that you will think the five songs are longer than just nine seconds short of 20 minutes.
DOM are not just some band floating around releasing singles. They might be poppy, but they are so good at being poppy they make you think, “Why do anything else?”
DOM – Family of Love Tracklisting:
- “Telephone”
- “Family of Love”
- “Damn”
- “Happy Birthday Party”
- “Some Boys (feat. Emma)”
