Something To Do Records / Outloud! Records, May 8, 2020
Dumberger compiles a couple splendid EP's into a fantastic LP
Dumberger is at it again (he's constantly at it, really). The artist alternately known as (amongst others) Grim Deeds, The Gungans (a Star Wars-themed band), Uncle Deeds, and (at home) Dustin Umberger, is an obnoxiously prolific guy, putting out new songs seemingly every week and compiling stuff together to release physical copies via labels like Outloud! and Something To Do every so often.
Dumberger comes from that, compiling the Dumberger EP and the Close Enough EP into a self-titled full-length. As with most stuff Deeds-related, Dumberger brings the hooky pop punk goodness all the way through. Songs like “Back In Time” and “Hole In My Head” give a bunch of sugary goodness, with catchy hooks on the choruses and wonderfully fun and melodic turns of phrase that are positively sticky. “Back In Time” even has a little “Beat On The Brat” thing going for it. “Girl Of My Dreams” is one of my favorites, giving off some dynamics with muted guitar parts and contagious vocal melodies. And the chord progression on the chorus is so basic, but somehow so basically great. Elsewhere, “Standing Next To You” and “Until You Go” have fantastic singalong melodies and some of the best vocals I've heard from the Deeds camp.
One of the things that keeps Dumberger engaging (beyond the pop hooks) are the words. Sometimes he gets super economical, and sometimes he fits way more words/syllables into a line than any writer has a right to, and makes it work. “Just For Fun” offers vengeful lines like “in my heart she was the only one, but then I found out the truth about her, she's as evil as a demon” while “Girl Of My Dreams” gets mushy with “so I can't wait to go to sleep, and have my baby here with me”. But maybe my favorite words on the record come on “Close Enough”. Single lines like “and our love's not perfect but it will suffice” are weirdly great, but entire stanzas such as “and you may not be my dream girl, but you're there when times get tough, we may not be a perfect match, but baby you're close enough” are truly splendid. You don't need a thesaurus for this stuff, but the pure honesty of the words hit hard.
Dumberger is a heck of a record. It wraps you up in great pop hooks and buzzsaw guitars and sings you to euphoria with melodies that'll colonize your brain, leaving you humming for days after. This one's a personal favorite.
You might like this if:
- You like direct and honest songwriting
- You like pop hooks and melodies
You might not if:
- You want lots of aggressive posturing from your punk rock
- Honest lyrics make you shift a little, boo openness!
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He's very secretive, he might be an alien.