They call it avant chamber rock, and while throughout Dimstar Full often comes off faux jazzy, slick, and too deliberate, beneath the surface this record is really a masterful cross of early solo Björk somnambulance, India.Arie soul, and utopian Tortoise-ized post-Disneyland sounds. Funky bachelor pad music for the future? The crisp beats and gurgling, sparkling programming on tracks like "One/0/7" would suggest so -- and there are vibraphones and trumpets in full effect (Stereolab for the club kids). The band does slip into downbeat trip-hop reminiscent of Hooverphonic at times ("Been Had"), but mostly Full is too diverse for the old genre tag to stick. There is a lot of downright skillful experimentation on Dimstar (mostly in terms of mixing electronics and traditional instrumentation), but the album hardly sounds experimental. To those who like their experimental music on the noise side, this will seem like a flaw. But, Full has managed to make complex, shifting, and what should be difficult music sound like pure pop. It's a recipe that's destined for the big time.
© Charles Spano /TiVo