{"id":255,"date":"2013-07-30T20:24:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T01:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robpenfold.com\/?p=255"},"modified":"2013-07-30T20:39:28","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T01:39:28","slug":"dustin-bentall-the-smokes-you-are-an-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robpenfold.com\/?p=255","title":{"rendered":"Dustin Bentall & The Smokes – You Are An Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"youareanisland-cover\"
Dustin Bentall & The Smokes
You Are An Island
Aporia Records<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So last month saw the release of “You Are An Island”, a new album from Dustin Bentall & The Smokes.\u00a0 Regular readers will know that DB is one of my favorite Canadian musicians.\u00a0 So I have been anxiously awaiting a new album for sometime.\u00a0 Last fall Dustin released an EP entitled “Orion” which I loved.\u00a0 I actually got my hands on this record from Dustin a week before the release when I saw him at The Dakota Tavern in Toronto.<\/p>\n

I had some expectations or preconceived notions prior to listening to this album.\u00a0 Firstly, I knew there would be a couple tracks from the “Orion” EP that would be on the album as Dustin had told me as much a few months back.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 Secondly, we would finally get a studio recording of the rocker DB has been playing live for a year now, “Shine”.\u00a0 Awesome because I love that tune.\u00a0 And thirdly, from the pre-release press I had read this album was going to be a bit of a departure from his traditional rootsy past and be more rock and roll.\u00a0 I’m okay with that too.<\/p>\n

So let me walk you through the album as I listened to it before I give you my judgement based on the above assumptions.\u00a0 The album starts with “Every Chord That Rings” which is by far my favorite track on the album.\u00a0 It is catchy, especially Dustin & Kendel’s vocals during the chorus.\u00a0 Speaking of Kendel Carson, her fiddle adds some great musical colour to the song without it sounding too rootsy.\u00a0 The next track, “Just Be My Friend”, I heard for the first time at the Dakota show is equally as catchy.\u00a0 It has a sort of 60’s kind of feel to it.\u00a0 The drums and bass give it a snappy driving beat that you can’t help bobbing your head too.\u00a0 “Shine” is the next song on the album and one that I’ve loved since first hearing it live a year ago.\u00a0 While the lyrics are pretty simplistic (“Take me to a bar, I wanna get drunk, wanna get fucked up”) it is a high energy song that you find yourself singing all day.\u00a0 I like when Dustin goes electric which I wish he would do more often.\u00a0 This tune is also a fiddle workout for Kendel.\u00a0 I think a lot of the pre-release buzz about the album was based on “Shine” which is the lead single.\u00a0 It’s good but not indicative of the entire album.\u00a0 “Shine” is much more rock and roll than DB’s past work but the rest of the album falls in between the past roots-rock and the promise of “Shine”.\u00a0 The highlight of the album is “Dreaming Of A Nightmare”.\u00a0 What a radical departure.\u00a0 My instant reaction is that it sounds like it could easily of have fit right into the b-side of The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” album.\u00a0 It has this dark dreamy 60’s vibe to it and the vocals sound somewhat Mike Love-ish\/Bryan Wilson-y.\u00a0 Everything about this track is brilliant, lyrics, vocals, instrumentation.\u00a0 The title track follows.\u00a0 I have always loved this song since I felt it was by far the standout of the EP.\u00a0 It paints a pretty imaginative picture.\u00a0 What I love most is the chorus which has Dustin prominently doing some “oooo’s” with Kendel distantly singing the tag line.\u00a0 This tune is unchanged from the “Orion” EP thankfully.\u00a0 “Shalala” follows and carries the same sort of 60’s rock and roll feel.\u00a0 “Oxford Street” (or a demo thereof) was on the EP last fall and a different incarnation makes its appearance on this album.\u00a0 The new studio version has some nice twangy Telecaster work but I find the acoustic guitar throughout is kind of lost in the mix.\u00a0 This tune is the rootsy Dustin we all know.\u00a0 The album closes with “Pretty Good Life” with Kendel & Dustin’s vocal harmonies sounding reminiscent of that 60’s sound.<\/p>\n

So what are my thoughts on the album as a whole?\u00a0 I like it a lot.\u00a0 But there is more to it than that.\u00a0 Getting back to my preconceived expectations, I didn’t feel that this album was the big departure from DB’s previous work that it was made out to be.\u00a0 Yes it certainly was an evolution from “Six Shooter” in that there was more of a 60’s rock and roll feel to a lot of the songs and less of the Canadiana \/ roots-rock of his past work.\u00a0 Was it the “rock” album that I had read it was going to be?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 “Shine” is great but not really indicative of the rest of the disc.\u00a0 How did I feel about a couple “Orion” tracks being on the new album?\u00a0 I do not have a problem with it but it leads into one of my only complaints; the album is not long enough.\u00a0 There are only eight songs on YAAI, two of which we have already heard on “Orion” (even though one was a demo).\u00a0 So that means there is only six new songs.\u00a0 The total running time of all eight tracks, which clocks in around 24 minutes is, for me, too short.\u00a0 I may be a dying breed that listens to an album start to finish.\u00a0 Maybe in this itunes generation 24 minutes is long enough for an album.\u00a0 With the two “Orion” songs and the short running length, YAAI feels to me like an EP.\u00a0 What I would have loved to see is rather than release the EP last fall and the album now, if the two had been combined it would have made a really great album.\u00a0 I think the songs would have worked together.\u00a0 They were primarily written and recorded around the same time with the same producer (Ryan Dahle).\u00a0 Add “Orion”, “Souvenirs” and “The Ballad of Billy Cowsill” to the YAAI track list and then you’ve got a really solid, cohesive album.\u00a0 I’ve heard the demo of “Good Money”.\u00a0 A studio version of that would have also fit in really well and mixed up the tempo of the album is a really pleasing way.<\/p>\n

So aside from my feeling that the album was a little short, my only other criticism is that the packaging left something to be desired.\u00a0 I like CD packages and liner notes and that hold in your hands touchy stuff.\u00a0 Dustin did a much better job on packaging “Six Shooter” himself than Aporia did on YAAI.\u00a0 It is too thin (like an EP) and doesn’t stand out on a CD shelf.\u00a0 The artwork and design is fine but a booklet with lyrics and liner notes is very much missing.<\/p>\n

What the bottom line you ask because I’ve rambled on quite a bit?\u00a0 I really really like “You Are An Island”.\u00a0 Dustin is evolving as a song writer and musician.\u00a0 Ryan Dahle (I assume) has aided greatly in the arrangements on this record.\u00a0 The addition of Kendel Carson to the entire album (and not just the one track on the “Six Shooter” album) makes a huge impact.\u00a0 Her presence on YAAI is as important as Luke Doucet’s was on “Six Shooter”.<\/p>\n

So go buy the album and the “Orion” EP as well.\u00a0 Listen to them both as they really are part one and two.\u00a0 In the meantime, check out the video for the title track “You Are An Island”.<\/p>\n