Dear Leader Review

Every now and then a song comes along that immediately causes your foot to fall down on the accelerator. Your blood pumps a little faster and a smile creeps onto your face. It’s not logical, its just fun. These accelerator songs are best when they surprise you, catch you off guard. Blur’s “Song 2” is perhaps one of the best examples. Listen to it once and you’ll be woo-who-ing for the rest of the day.

“Raging Red” by local Boston band, Dear Leader is the most recent song to help me kill my gas mileage. It breaks in with an accelerator stand, the pounding guitar intro which pours into a strained vocal track. The chorus grabs onto the old fave of stuttering through. Three minutes soar by without notice and by the end you’ll finally notice you’re right foot is pressed firmly against the floor.

After about six instances of the above, I finally caved and purchased the full disc. Punched out by Lunch Records, I could only find Dear Leader’s All I Ever Wanted was Tonight at the local Newbury Comics. Target was sadly lacking in local music, though I could have gotten six Jessica Simpson tracks for only $5.99, but I like my ears.

The first thing that strikes you when you listen through All I ever wanted… is that these guys give a damn. Not just about music, but about politics, religion, hunger and dozen other things. “Billion Served” (track 3) could have been blasted over the closing credits of Super-size Me. “Resurrection Hill” (track 4) sounds like Phil Collins on speed, with a sing along chorus that simply sucks you in. “Nation” (track 5) a simple guitar and vocals track, seems to plead for some sense of community to return.

The sixth track, “Young Hearts” seems to as much an anthem for the kids of 2005 as “Teen Spirit” was for kids of the early 90s. There’s cynicism and despair inherent in the lyrics. The prevailing view of children who have grown up in a time when love it a commodity, all relationships are temporary and you can’t trust anyone seeps through the chorus. The worst part is you’ll find yourself nodding along. Longing for the time when you could bounce back from reject, back to the time when you actually thought there were more fish in the sea. Now you feel like the lonely seahorse.

Considering that these are kids from Cambridge, All I ever wanted… is clearly influenced by the political forces of the past several years, especially in national elections. Evidenced here is also the religious frustration of an area that has dealt with the largest of the recent priest abuse scandals.

It’s amazing how an accelerator song, an anthem that I never heard the words to, could introduce me to a band that has some depth to its lyrics. “Raging Red” (track 2) still stands out as the best song on the disc, yet taken in context, it now stimulates more than simply my need for speed.

Check out Dear Leader at www.dear-leader.com

Check out Lunch Records at www.lunchrecords.com

Read the Boston Globe’s review at http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2005/01/23/dear_leader/