Dropkick: Primary Colours

The prolific Scottish east coast jangley alt-country popsters Dropkick keep making brilliant albums while inexplicably flying under the mainstream radar. You get the feeling if they came from the east coast of America they would be household names by now.

Primary Colours is full of chiming guitars, sunshine harmonies & killer hooks that have became their trademark, drawing comparisons to the likes of The Jayhawks, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco & The Lemonheads. The bands frontman, Andrew Taylor, is again on production duties, as well as penning 9 of the 10 tracks.

The summery power pop of album opener Left Behind, retains that familiar sound that fans will know and love, as do In A Different Light, and the outstanding album closer Waiting For The Rain. Previous single, and standout track, Snowflakes, could be Teenage Fanclub in their prime. Dropkick are a band that wear their influences like a badge of honor, much like the Fannies, but for all that, they still make music that is unmistakebly Dropkick. Misunderstandings encapsulates everything that makes Dropkick special.. killer riffs, lush harmonies, jangly grinding guitars and that little melody twist when you least expect it.

The band’s guitarist Al Shields takes over vocal duites on the driving Highs & Lows, which he also wrote, as well as on the gritty Vanishing Act. Both these tracks provide the records heaviest moments, musically speaking, and show a different side to the bands sound.

Normal power pop service is resumed on the title track, Primary Colours, displaying all the shimmering harmony soaked pop sensabilities of bands like Big Star & The Byrds, and one of the album’s real highlights. The stripped back ode to life’s ability to give you that groundhog day feeling, Too Much Of The Same, shows that in Taylor, Dropkick has a masterful songwriter with an enviable ear for sublime melodies.

Like we said before, it is a mystery why these guys are not household names. They consistantly deliver brilliant albums, and Primary Colours is no different.