“I came across The Dears from their second album No Cities Left, the 2005 reissue that also contained their earlier Protest EP, and I fell a little bit in love with Murray Lightburn’s voice. . A Canadian band from Montreal, but as different from their city siblings Arcade Fire as from Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Lightburn has a lovely warm and soft voice and could probably croon quite successfully, but his heart is firmly entrenched in mid-90s Britpop. . The Dears are essentially the husband and wife team of Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak who handles all keyboards and backing vocals, and they’re accompanied by a different “Gang of Losers” from album to album. This one is heavier on the guitar with less of the sweeping orchestral backdrop of No Cities Left which remains my favourite of theirs. . But to dismiss The Dears as Britpop revivalists is to do them a massive disservice, they’re far better than that. Ignoring the frequent comparisons with The Smiths and Blur, they’re perhaps closer in sensibility and sound to a band like Gene. And that’s not a bad thing at all.” . FOR FULL REVIEW & PLAYLIST CLICK LINK IN PROFILE: https://randomrecordreview.wordpress.com/2019/10/07/373-the-dears-gang-of-losers/ . #thedears @thedears #gangoflosers #tickettoimmortality #whitesonlyparty #theregoesmyoutfit @bella_union #britpop #britpoprevival #geneband #canadianmusic #cdreview #recordcollection #nowplaying #nowlistening #randomrecordreview https://www.instagram.com/p/B3VAu1ZJ8eU/?igshid=1nk022r2i3oyn
