The Elaborate Dogs EP from The Desert Island Big Band (DIBB) is a swirling, fuzzy, animal-print-laden experience that marks just the tip of an iceberg that floats beyond the bounds of reality. The band’s latest EP is a magnetic expression of expansive world building, storytelling, and a dynamic sound that leaves the listener wanting more.
Here’s a challenge: Listen to the Elaborate Dogs EP and then try to describe it without sounding like a quintessential record store crackpot who may have missed the “Don’t Take The Brown Acid” speech. Go for it. Avant-Rock? Dada Disco? Fever Dream Funk? Maybe if Arthur Brown was tapped to riff on Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”, we would be getting close. Regardless of labels, The Desert Island Big Band have expertly funneled an immeasurable multitude of influences into their latest release that demands a conscious surrender of structure and to let yourself get lost in their world.
The Elaborate Dogs EP feels like a high definition close up of a much wider picture that the human brain just cannot fathom. Pulling influences from the likes of Bukowski, Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, David Lynch, Zappa, and many others, The DIBB are a fully informed outfit of artists with all the tools to be unhinged, uninhibited, but never sloppy. Meticulously constructed to feel like the whole EP is teetering on the edge towards chaos, the Elaborate Dogs EP represents a huge leap for the band into new waters that hopefully leads to even weirder frontiers.
While the influences and what informed the creation of the Elaborate Dogs EP may seem grand and overwhelming, the DIBB never loses sight of approachability. Every single released prior to the drop of the EP demonstrated the band’s skill at blending experimentation with pop sensibilities. Amongst the bizzaro bravado of their musicianship are countless moments that are funky, fun, and impossible to not sing along to.
While the 5 songs available digitally reflect the DIBB as the powerhouse provocateurs they are, there are 4 more tracks only available on their CD. To return to the iceberg allegory, there is so much more to the Elaborate Dogs EP for those who wish to know more. If you’re going to take the trip, you might as well have a window seat and see everything you can along the way.
One of the greatest accomplishments of The Desert Island Big Band and the Elaborate Dogs EP is making the listener seek out weirder and wilder music. If they chose to, The Desert Island Big Band has the musical talent, sharp spectacle gaze, and elusive mystique to start a very cool cult if they wanted to.
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Kick Me Records
Bio:
The Desert Island Big Band is the pseudonym of Stefan Jurewicz—musician, producer (Kick Me Records), and author (Lemon, Milk Crate Shorts) from Ottawa, Canada. Dada-esque art rock informed by artists like Bowie, Beck, and St Vincent.
