Over the years, indie fixture
Dressy Bessy's records moved from fun and fizzy pop into scrappier, attitude-heavy sounds. As early as 2005's Electrified, bandleader
Tammy Ealom began injecting her good-natured melodies with a more sinister, punky flavor. From there the band just continued to turn up the volume. Fast Faster Disaster marks not just the Denver group's seventh studio album, but 20 years since their 1999 debut. While not completely unrecognizable from their twee beginnings,
Dressy Bessy has come a long way.
Ealom's off-center songwriting and larger-than-life presence remain the focal points of the band, and finds different articulations over the course of the album. She moves from summery, slow-burning grooves on the slinky "I've Fallen in Love" to sneering confidence on "Tiny Lil Robots" to heartfelt pleading on the low-lit slide-guitar slowdown "Mon Cheri." Much of Fast Faster Disaster is a high-energy stomp, from the high-tempo blur of "Sweet Medicine" to a faithful cover of
the Buzzcocks' "What Do I Get?" The band is joined by a host of guests on "The Real McCoy," a song written for long-time affiliate
Scott McCaughey when he was going through uncertain times health-wise. The song's uneasy emotional themes are offset by bright and zippy guitar lines and a spirited chorus of backing vocalists including
Sleater-Kinney's
Corin Tucker and the
Posies'
Ken Stringfellow. Unlike any other track on the album, the song serves as a reminder of
Ealom's songwriting range. Not tied to one mode of expression,
Dressy Bessy's colorful songcraft continues to evolve even as they push into their second decade. ~ Fred Thomas