DOT LEGACY
French four piece Dot Legacy don't give much away about their sound. I would use the word 'brief' when describing the PR sheet and as mysterious, intriguing and good as the CD packaging and bright green CD are, neither tell you anything. When that happens I always try to do a bit of extra digging and see what other people have said regarding the album and, in this case, the self-titled, debut album from Dot Legacy seems to be mainly held in pretty high regard. Well, I'm not about to shoot that down in flames or dismiss this band and their vision (whatever that is), or indeed their musical ability, but I am going to say I'm not keen on it. Described as stoner, noise and post-rock (three descriptions that don't get my pulse racing), Dot Legacy don't seem to know what they want to be. That might be seen as refreshing, unique, avant-garde and in one reviewer’s case, “a work of pure genius”, but I just think it's a mish-mash. Mixing those aforementioned styles with some freeform jazz, hip-hop and a little French flair just makes it all sound a bit pretentious to me and I'm not about to succumb to the feeling that I must like this album because other people do.
Dot Legacy are made up of Arnaud Merckling (guitar, organ, backing vocals), Damien Quintard (lead vocals, bass), Jean-Suliac Defontaine (guitar, backing vocals) and Romain Mottier (drums, backing vocals) and it's fairly obvious they can all play well, it's the composition of the songs that let them down. There aren't really any hooks apparent throughout the album. Occasionally, a riff or passage comes along that piques your interest but, before you've had a chance to appreciate it, the band have found another sound to play with which sets them off in a completely different direction and I really do not like the direction they take with the song 'Pyramid'.
The album feels like one of those tedious pieces of modern art where someone has crushed some light bulbs over an unmade bed, next to an overflowing rubbish bin and then tries to convince us all that it's a priceless work. Some will believe it is, and that's entirely up to them, but I usually just view them for what they are, bits of rubbish and go off and find the true masterpieces instead. All of that is quite ironic really when you look at the cover art. Perhaps I'm not intelligent enough to see the real meaning, but do you know what? I'm happy with that.
Dot Legacy are made up of Arnaud Merckling (guitar, organ, backing vocals), Damien Quintard (lead vocals, bass), Jean-Suliac Defontaine (guitar, backing vocals) and Romain Mottier (drums, backing vocals) and it's fairly obvious they can all play well, it's the composition of the songs that let them down. There aren't really any hooks apparent throughout the album. Occasionally, a riff or passage comes along that piques your interest but, before you've had a chance to appreciate it, the band have found another sound to play with which sets them off in a completely different direction and I really do not like the direction they take with the song 'Pyramid'.
The album feels like one of those tedious pieces of modern art where someone has crushed some light bulbs over an unmade bed, next to an overflowing rubbish bin and then tries to convince us all that it's a priceless work. Some will believe it is, and that's entirely up to them, but I usually just view them for what they are, bits of rubbish and go off and find the true masterpieces instead. All of that is quite ironic really when you look at the cover art. Perhaps I'm not intelligent enough to see the real meaning, but do you know what? I'm happy with that.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Setalight Records
Album
DOT LEGACY
Review by Rick Tilley
RUNNING TIME:
44:42
RELEASE DATE:
27th June 2014
TRACK LISTING
1) Kennedy
2) Think of a Name
3) Days of the Weak
4) The Passage
5) Pyramid
6) Gorilla Train Station
7) Rumbera
8) The Midnight Weirdos
9) 3 AM
2) Think of a Name
3) Days of the Weak
4) The Passage
5) Pyramid
6) Gorilla Train Station
7) Rumbera
8) The Midnight Weirdos
9) 3 AM
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
France
"The album feels like one of those tedious pieces of modern art where someone has crushed some light bulbs over an unmade bed, next to an overflowing rubbish bin and then tries to convince us all that it's a priceless work."
