Dutch Uncles
Out of Touch in the Wild
Reviewed by Jane Roser
Dutch Uncle- Noun. Meaning a stern, candid critic or adviser. Which is what I am about to be on this British band’s third release.
This indie rock band From Manchester was founded in 2008 after meeting whilst in college and have slowly built a loyal following in the UK playing to sold out shows and festivals. In fact, their second single, “Flexxin”, was born after the band played with Prince at a music festival shortly after the release of their third album.
Reviewers have compared this album to The Cure, XTC and The Talking Heads. I get the XTC resemblance, and am actually impressed that a band of youngin’s know who XTC even is, but “Dear God” they ain’t.
The first thought I had when listening to this album is I know I’ve heard these tunes somewhere before. And then I realized that I was thinking of the Music and Lyrics soundtrack, specifically Hugh Grant singing “Pop! Goes My Heart”. The high pitch vocals and electronica beat made my skin crawl. Every song sounds exactly the same. I was waiting for one stand out, but like a mailman on Sunday, it never came.
“Fester” was the first released single and I think I hear xylophones on this song. I decided to watch the official video hoping it would change my opinion, but the video images of- what is that stuff? Crack? And a guy dancing like Napoleon Dynamite on Prozac sadly just left me pondering “Why me?”
Out Of Touch In The Wild has received 4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon UK, so they are doing quite well across the pond. The only reason I gave this album a No Comment rating, instead of Intolerable is I like the Jack Kerouac style album name and because of this awesome reply they gave to a Facebook fan:
Facebook fan: “Dear Dutch Uncles, your tunes are ace but that’s the worst colour of vinyl I have ever seen. Looks like, you know….”
Dutch Uncles: “Yep. A poo.”
