Dave Simpson 

Dodgy: Stand Upright in a Cool Place – review

Britpop survivors Dodgy return with an impressive new album that plays up their melancholy streak, writes Dave Simpson
  
  


Even at the height of Britpop's triumphalism, Dodgy's anthems such as Staying Out for the Summer had a bittersweet undercurrent of melancholy just being held at bay. Their first album since 1996 finds the reunited threesome allowing it to become the driving force on an album that could not have been made by their younger selves. Bitter breakups, the death of their lighting man and simple maturity inform titles such as What Became of You and Did It Have to Be This Way, songs rich in eerie imagery, poignancy and regret. It's not all nostalgia: the stirring We Try is an anthemic attempt to lift spirits in these very troubled times. Back of You is a not-so-subtle lament about the return of Tory Britain, although the heartbreakingly beautiful Shadows could be a lost Hollies classic. Otherwise, the songs blend sun-drenched harmonies and spine-tingling guitar solos to emerge something like a fusion of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Fleet Foxes and the Isley Brothers. Anyone touched by the Britpop experience may find that, 15 years later, these songs sing their life.

 

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