The Dears - Gang Of Losers

As part of the newly-popular music scene of Montreal, Canadians The Dears follow-up ‘No Cities Left’ with this release through the Bella Union label. And while the record is named ‘Gang Of Losers’, they’ve proved with this latest studio effort they’re not as crap a gang as the name suggests.

Very strong musically and lyrically, The Dears make us travel to their roots - this is a band obviously inspired by the Britpop era. Melodies from Pulp’s ‘This Is Hardcore’, Blur’s 1997 sound, we can definitely compare them to the British gems of the 90s, especially on ‘Death Or Life We Wan’t You’. The riffs in lead single ‘Ticket To Immortality’ remind us very much of Mansun or The Verve.

Murray Lightburn is definitely one of the best songwriters of this decade so far, proving it with tracks such as ‘Ballad Of Human Kindness’ with its pop-electro-keyboard sampling beat. The psychedelic beginning to ‘Sinthro’ is even one of the greatest moments of 2006.