Many of us walked away from Dummy’s 2021 debut album Mandatory Enjoyment with more questions regarding what kind of music the band plays than what we may have approached it with. There was a clear reverence for Stereolab at play across the album (par for the course, considering their signing to Trouble in Mind), yet each track seemed to stretch that specific art-pop influence into the realms of space rock, noise pop, and psychedelic krautrock without derailing the album’s linearity.
With Dummy’s follow-up album Free Energy on the horizon, it appears they’ve only gotten more experimental. The latest cut, “Blue Dada,” not only splits the difference between Seefeel’s blend of ambient electronic sound and dream pop and droning jangle pop as perfected by the good people of Dunedin, but it also arrives attached to a preceding improvisatory instrumental track titled “Opaline Bubbletear,” which is dominated by saxophone courtesy of guest musician Cole Pulice. “This track serves to set the stage for ‘Blue Dada,’” the band explains. “We had the honor of performing these two tracks live with Cole several times in the Bay Area prior to recording the album.”
Regarding “Blue Dada” itself, they continue: “This was one of the first songs that really came together for Free Energy, with the idea of cross-wiring genres, between ambient dance music, á la Seefeel, and revved-up drone-pop, á la Dunedin sound. Playing shows and performing this song live so many times shaped and honed this song into a razor sharp version of the original concept.”
Naturally, “Opaline” gets swept up into the official music video for “Blue Dada,” with a mysterious sax-wielding entity setting the scene for what I can only describe as five minutes of completely transfixing weirdness to unfold. Check that out below, and pre-order Free Energy here.
