Dent May “The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele” Review
Finally, after years of solitude and misery, the lonely/nerdy music loving crowd of this cold and indifferent world has a soundtrack, written and sung by one of their own. With his debut album, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele, Dent May seems to articulate, with a razor sharp tongue in cheek wit, the trials and tribulations of a kid looking for his place in this big world. The 12 song, 35 minute album recently released on Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks label (do not under any circumstances infer that this means he sounds like AC) is a great debut record of warmly original and melancholy pop songs that gracefully walk the line between being ironically over the top and exposing a serious heart on the sleeve singer/songwriter. Being a huge Magnetic Fields (actually anything Stephan Merritt) fan, I found it hard to not listen to The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele and not find myself linking the two together. The similarities that May has injected into his music are endless, which can be a precarious situation. Merritt, the king of the deadpan songs that can be both hilariously funny and crushingly depressing, is a unique songwriter whose gift allows for him to write songs that seemingly break every golden rule of songwriting. For the first ¾ of the album, May not only holds his own, but he writes some great songs that make him sound like a hipster version of a younger, straighter and more self aware Merritt.
The album, never lacking for moments that teeter on the serious/joking tightrope, starts off with a song titled “Welcome,” which does exactly what it’s title implies. With some barber shop like harmonies propelling him, he begins the album with the lines “Welcome to my record welcome to the show/Welcome to the party, please enjoy my home/Sometimes I get the feeling, nobody knows my pain.” If this is his thesis statement, he then spends the next half hour giving us a blow by blow account backing this up. Following is “Meet Me in the Garden,” a low key song with a nice acoustic shuffle that is full of the seemingly confused young boy looking for love in all the wrong places clichè that fills the album. The LP really picks up speed on the third track, “College Town Boy,” which is about a kid (possibly May) trapped in a small town that doesn’t quite appreciate his idiosyncrasies and “high brow” tastes. The hero of the song, who is only hanging around “until grad school,” sounds like a Craig Finn character sung in a more baroque manor. The titled character is depressed and is fighting the everyday struggle of “being nothing.” Next up is a spry song titled “Oh Paris!” which seems like a follow up to “College Town Boy,” where the hero finally finds a place where he fits in. In Paris, he finally feels like he “belongs here in this world,” and loves everything from the culture to the girls in the city of lights. The song, one of the best on the record, begins with May’s dark baritone, led by his wobbly ukulele playing mixed with some tambourine and a small smattering of some horns that keep the song marching forward.
May follows these great songs with “Girls on the Square,” which really sums up the songwriting and thought process of the whole Dent May record. It has a simple but catchy ukulele line joined partway through by the whole band that has a classic pop feel that makes the song feel really timeless. The lyrical content is about a lost love that is bringing him down, and features some great harmonies and never becomes too self absorbed. One of the keys to the album is that I never got the feeling like he wasn’t being legitimate or earnest in his songwriting. Songs like “Girls on the Square” could easily fall off the track and become a parody of love songs, but something in the combination of his earnest signing and his deft songs arrangements makes Dent May, and his debut album, a success. “You Can’t Force a Dance Party” was the first song I heard by May and may be the best song on the album. The song, which screams “single,” is one of those songs that sticks with you the first time you hear it and unveils new layers each time. In essence, it is a song about May inviting a girl from Brooklyn to his home in Mississippi with the promise of having a party. With everything planned from the guests to the music, May is expecting great things for the night, only to have it all unravel. Not only are people not having fun, they are not dancing despite May playing all of his “best records” and they are embarrassing him in front of his would-be lady. The best line comes near the start when May is describing the lame party when he sings “Michael’s far too drunk, he’s watching YouTube videos, and I’ll be in the corner reading poetry and prose, cause you can’t force a dance party.” The song is the culmination of May’s work combining his sharp wit with his melancholy stories, and along with the funny video made for it, could bring some attention for May and his band.
(photo via MySpace)
“God Loves you, Michael Chang” is a cheeky song about a former tennis player whom May evidently has a soft spot for that serves as the last strong song on the album. For the first ¾ of the album, it seemed like May could do no wrong as far as his songwriting and performance. This comes to an abrupt halt starting with “At the Academic Conference” through the last song on the album “Love Song 2009.” May’s ability to avoid being too serious and not coming across as too ironic, which made the first part of the record so great, is lost on the last quarter. Especially bad is the song “I’m an Alcoholic,” which takes a very serious (and real) problem, and makes it into a joke to further show how “sad” May is. The laziness and overall songwriting on the last four songs is disappointing and ends the album on a relative sour note.
Overall, the last few songs weren’t enough to overshadow the great success May found with the majority of his debut record. His appeal can be pretty wide, but he is especially recommended for fans of dark/dry humor in their music. Like the best work of Stephen Merritt, May is able to take a situation that has the potential to be both awkward and sad and make it into a funny experience, without settling for the cheap and easy joke. In the end, no matter what the experience the songwriter is telling, it comes down to the music and May and his band have done a great job with this album. Even on the songs that may be clunky lyrically (which are only a few), the music is well arranged and entertaining and shows a band that has a lot of potential to do some really great things.
love this fun record and am excited to see him on Thur
An interesting read,& I actually would buy this record
after sampling it.That lala player works fine.
In person he would be good fun.