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The Dears
Missiles
Review By Jeremy Willets
Missles began as a solo affair from the Dears’ chief songwriter, Murray Lightburn. He apparently had only a handful of tunes written before he decided he should actually release it as the new Dears’ record. But the recording process apparently didn’t go to well, and the Dears pretty much disintegrated. The band, whose membership often swells to seven or eight people, is now officially just Lightburn and his wife, keyboardist/backing vocalist Natalia Yanchak. After all the membership strife, Missles sat completed since April because Lightburn couldn’t find a label willing or financially able to release it. You’d be right for thinking that all of these were harbingers of a pretty dubious album — the kind that could potentially end a once-promising career.
But those assumptions are fortunately wrong. Missles isn’t anywhere near a train wreck. The album begins with the confrontational “Disclaimer,” in which Lightburn declares, “I’ve come back from almost dead, and I’ve got to avenge everyone.” The Dears have always been pegged by music scribes as “cinematic,” and Missles doesn’t do anything to dispel that label — see “Berlin Heart,” as well as the soulful 11-minute closer, “Saviour.” The title track sounds a bit like Radiohead’s “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” while “Lights Off” sounds like a ’70s-rock deep cut. So while Lightburn and his wife have pretty much alienated everyone else in their life , they haven’t forgotten how to channel that angst into something cathartic.
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