Review: The Dollyrots – “Night Owls”

Wicked Cool Records – 13 October 2023

Catchy and crafty with some owls and alligators.

This is the 8^th studio album for the band and the first in 4 years. I am just a casual fan of them and I didn’t realize they already had released 7 albums. I was checking out this new release with intentions of just doing a quick First Impression or Drive by Review. After a few spins though, I found myself walking around the house singing the lyrics to the songs. Anything that catchy I felt deserved a full review, so here we go.

The first track “5+5” is a full-on high energy fun love song with fast power pop punk drums and guitar riffs to get things started. The lyrics are about all the tiny little things and imperfections that mean you are supposed to be together. Or maybe I’ve just seen Sleepless in Seattle too many times.

“I Just Wanna Play Dead” is another sweet love song. This one slows it down slightly, as it should, with lyrics about not wanting to get out of bed and just relish in the comfort of snuggling with someone you care deeply for.

Back in August, “Night Owl” was released as single and for good reason. Although the lyrics are a little simple compared to the previous serenade of love poems, they are very catchy. If you don’t have “catch me little Night Owl” in you head after playing this track, then maybe pop-punk is not for you.

Jumping a few tracks ahead is “Trees Sway” a slow acoustic ballad with some string instrument sounds laced in. This one contrasts the album’s punky power pop songs and offers a nice pause before they take things back up. I don’t want to gloss over this song just because it’s more suited for a slow dance than a punk show. It really impressed me on the bands ability to not rely on fast catchy verses and upbeat music and shows their song writing capabilities.   

On a record full of cute modern fluffy love and relationship songs, they managed to squeeze in one about Alligators. And what rhymes with Alligators? Cops with lots of tazers of course. Maybe Alligators is a metaphor, but either way I’m not going skinny dipping in the river.

If you’re not familiar, an “Irish Goodbye” is when you abruptly leave a party without telling anyone. The song by the same name on this album begins with a Celtic feel that quickly fades into the poppy punk realm. The song is fine track but the intro sparked my interest in what could have been a completely different tune.

The record concludes with a cover of Billy Braggs 1983 song “A New England”. There are more than a dozen cover versions of this track out there, and a few other “punk” versions including Groovie Ghoulies’ 1996 version and Billy Joe Armstrong’s adaptation in 2020. The Dollyrots speed up the tempo and pop it up with some snare heavy snappy drums and synthesizer sounds to give it the full pop-punk feel.

As previously mentioned, these songs are catchy as hell. There was more music diversity than I expected although there is no mind-altering bending fusion of genres, and that is not a bad thing. There is just enough subtle differences to keep everyone interested. Some songs may be on the heavily produced side for some, but then there are songs like “Trees Sway” to balance it out. I may no longer be just a casual listener with the latest album The Dollyrots have put out, so catch me little Night Owl!