Album Review: The Dowling Poole - "See You, See Me"


The joint brainchild of Wildhearts alumni Willie Dowling and Random Jon Poole, the Dowling Poole have been one of the more interestingly oddball groups to break on to the music scene in recent years. On See You See Me, their third album, it's safe to say that they're not getting any less weird. Or enjoyable for that matter.

It starts off in sort-of-familiar territory with the breathless rush of the title track which is the sort of enjoyably oddball alternative rock that the Dowling Poole have excelled at on their previous two albums, 2014's Bleak Strategies and 2016's excellent One Hyde Park. However, it rapidly goes even weirder than that with the stuttery electro-rock of The Product and Hope which is an almost Prince-style funk workout with falsetto vocals and icy keyboards.

Made In Heaven goes back to the oddball XTC-style indie that the Dowling Poole have done so well in the past with lyrics taking a well-aimed shot at Donald Trump, a man who the DP have been lambasting lyrically since Empires, Buildings And Acquisitions on their first album. Elsewhere, they dabble in everything from white reggae (Human Soup) through twisted psychedelia which sounds like Elvis Costello with Beach Boys harmonies (Alison's Going Home) to seasick post-punk (The Light Dies Down). To be honest though, each of these songs takes so many twists and turns that it can leave your head spinning a bit - no sooner have you got a song like Sunrise pinned down as blissed out orchestral pop then it goes into Talking Heads style new wave spikiness and then back again.

All of this variety, of course, would mean diddly-squat if the Dowling Poole didn't at least have enough hooks to draw you into the album but I'm pleased to report that like its predecessors, See You See Me is an album that you'll return to for listening not least because it's the sort of album that you'll notice little new things about every time you listen to - certainly the closing one-two of the blistering album highlight Keep The Stupid Stupid (another anti-Trump diatribe which hits the nail full on the head) and the blissed out Last Train Home is a fine way to sign things off here. For those into the more oddball end of the music we cover on this blog, and indeed those who've enjoyed their previous albums, you should find plenty to enjoy on the latest Dowling Poole effort.

You can purchase or stream See You See Me (and indeed the rest of the Dowling Poole's back catalogue should you so wish) from their Bandcamp page.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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