07/19/10 Freeburg legion* Freeburg, IL
Discography07/20/10 Cicero's* St. Louis, Mo 07/21/10 Main Street Cafe* Kansas City, MS 07/22/10 The Slowdown* Omaha, NE 07/23/10 Cafe Berlin* Columbia, MS 07/24/10 Pond Party* Wichita, Kansas 08/18/10 Dans Silverleaf ^ Denton, Tx 08/19/10 Collective ^ Shreveport, La 08/21/10 Disc Go Round^ Corpus Christi, Tx 08/27/10 Galeria 409# Brownsville, Tx 08/28/10 The Ten Eleven# San Antonio, Tx 08/29/10 Mohawk# Austin, Tx 08/30/10 Common Grounds# Waco, Tx 08/31/10 Clicks# Tyler, Tx 09/01/10 George's Majestic# Fayettville, Ar 09/02/10 Jaunitas# Little Rock, Ar 09/03/10 Opolis# Norman, Ok 09/04/10 The Crystal Pistol* Tulsa, Ok 09/05/10 Hi- tone# Memphis, Tn 09/06/10 Main St. Bar & Grill# Tupelo, Ms 09/07/10 Old Town Tavern# Sheffield, Al 09/08/10 Engine Room# Tallahassee, Fl 09/09/10 Ecclesia# Newnan, Ga 09/10/10 Homemade Genius# 96, Sc 09/11/10 New Brookland Tavern# West Columbia, Sc 09/13/10 Rocc# Carmel, In 09/15/10 Rack & Roll# Riverview, Mi 09/16/10 Musica# Akron, Oh 09/17/10 Abbey Bar# Harrisburg, Pa 09/20/10 Snug Harborª Charlotte, Nc 09/21/10 Meatheadsª Greenville, Sc 09/23/10 Roofª Charleston, Sc 09/23/10 567 Cafe Macon, Ga 09/27/10 New World Brewery Tampa, Fl 09/28/10 New Life Center Sarasota, Fl 09/29/10 handlebar Pensecola, Fl 09/30/10 Alabama Music Box Mobile, Al 10/01/10 Star Bar Baton Rouge, La 10/02/10 Finnegans Wake Alexandria, La 10/03/10 Nightmare Dallas, Tx w/ The King and The Thief ^ w/ The young Maths # w/ Farewell Flight ª w/ Junior Astronomers
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Dignan @ 400 Bar, Minneapolis 7.12.10
Cheaters & Thieves LP
�
Why is it that indie
musicians from Texas
never have Southern drawls?� Somebody
should study this phenomenon with sociological parameters and get back to me ([email protected]).
Dignan hails from Texas, indeed, but naught a “ya’ll” was uttered during the band’s opening set at the 400 Bar on Sunday.� It’s no secret that Midwesterners adore region-specific accents, probably because of our own special relationship with the letter ‘O.’� Fascinatingly, something else exists that turns us on even more than vowel disfiguration:� lovely, arousing (yet, aesthetically chaste) male harmonization.� It’s true, we go gaga over in sync.
This time around, the harmonies under scrutiny belong to a quintet of Southern kids with only a shade of Fleet Foxes envy.� As I mentioned in my review of What Laura Says, the harmony bar has been set at Fleet Fox standards since early 2008; and within this canon, meticulously crafted songs are secondary to meticulous performances.� Any band hoping for similar success must pass the first test:� The Live Show.
If Dignan did not disappoint, they somewhat confused.� Cheaters
& Thieves (the band’s full-length debut), is pretty on the ears, an
exercise in haunting melodic discourse.�
The album opens with the dark, chant-like “Fool”; from there it builds
on vocal layers until about mid-way through “Pillars & Pews” when the
emoting reaches dangerous, John Hughes levels, as Andy Pena’s voice (so vulnerable), threatens to crack on each
note.� Think Arcade Fire meets breezy, summer
love…that is, summer love, as remembered years down the road in a bleak,
whiskey haze.� Each track is cool and
intentional in its own way, often sounding positively wintery.� While the vocals blend seamlessly, don’t be
fooled—lyrics like “don’t take this wrongly, I wish you would die“ (“What’s
Done Is Done”) are candid enough to keep Cheaters
out of pure folk territory.
On stage, however, something else was happening.� Stripped of studio sheen, Dignan never
hesitated to crank up the volume, both literally and figuratively.� Recalling remnants of the album and watching
the band perform was almost akin to hearing a bi-polar artist sing the blues,
alternating between a kind of depressive embrace and crude, feverish
energy.
A tad dramatic?� Perhaps, but Cheaters-the-album vs. Cheaters-the-live-show clearly received differing memos when it came to production style.� The former’s might’ve read “less is more” while the latter’s pushed for a “balls to the wall” approach.� The resulting Live Show lost some of the album’s quiet subtlety but gained veritable rock chops.� Is that a bad thing?� Well, as they say in the South, “different strokes…”
Dignan is Andy Pena (vocals/guitar), Devin Garcia (bass), David Palomo (aux instrumentals/vocals), and Heidi Plueger (keyboard/vocals).� The band is currently touring with Minneapolis’s the King and the Thief.� For a full list of dates, visit their Myspace or Facebook.� Cheaters & Thieves is available on iTunes and Amazon.
�07/19/2010 08:26:31�♥ lara (
)
♥
myspace.com/dignan
♥
@DignanMusic
xx
