Are You Feeling Nervous? - Dr Spaceman - EP Review
- genevavalek
- Jul 5, 2014
- 2 min read
When the character of Dr Spaceman was first mentioned in the American comedy show 30 Rock, everyone was calling him “Doctor Space-man”, as if the writers were going for a easy laugh by giving a character a funny name. Then, 15 minutes later when Dr Spaceman actually appears, everyone suddenly switches to pronouncing it “Spa-sche-man”, realising their incorrect pronunciation. It was a quaint yet obvious joke that is never referred to again, but still always bring a smile to my face when I hear his name.
With my first introduction to Sydney power-pop band Dr. Spaceman, I was taken on a trip similar to the one mentioned above. When I first read that Dr. Spaceman were power pop, I guessed what to expect. Layers of guitars playing chords. Verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure. Singable choruses. Easy to like, but not more. Then, 15 minutes later when I start listening to Dr. Spaceman, I realise that all my expectations were wrong. The obvious power pop sound had been combined with many other genres to make an amalgamation of them all. Wow, that was one hell of an extended segue. Every track on Are You Feeling Nervous?, the new EP, is a journey. The first track, For Your Health, uses a multitude of techniques such as bridges and key changes to cycle through peaks and troughs that are sonically gripping. This is followed by Seen Enough, which simultaneously felt like an intimate concert of a single man on a piano and a pop ballad. I didn’t even know it was possible to do this.
The vocals on the EP are very obviously Australian without ever becoming obnoxious, and in many ways remind me of Tim Freedman from The Whitlams. And once I realised that their main influence was Ben Folds I couldn’t stop noticing it. The occasional use of falsetto also comes across solidly in select points.
Dr. Spaceman are punching well above their weight on this EP. The 5 tracks sound like they could have come from 5 different, yet highly competent bands. Even with this it still flows incredibly well to give a highly enjoyable listening experience.
Review by Matthew Turner
コメント