Dumbo Gets Mad - Elephants At The Door

Last year, Italian one-man-band Dumbo Gets Mad went into the making of this album with the mission statement, "No matter what it sounds like, it has to be psychedelic!" And as it turns out, that statement wasn't so far off. The sounds here flirt with 60s pop at times, but overall achieve total psychedelic bliss. And when I say psychedelic, I mean it. It really doesn't get more trippy than this.

The stand out track here for me is definitely 'Plumy Tale', which he actually released last year. The elevated chorus is breathtaking, while the delicious bassline, main synth melody and saxophones pull the song together so gracefully. Nothing else really reaches the heights of this song. Eclectic Prawn, however, rolls along with its catchy vintage-sounding guitar rhythm and drum beat quite nicely, and somewhere in the middle, the synths power through and the track gets magical. Two other fantastic tracks are 'Marmelade Kids' and 'Harmony'. The former sounds like it's from outer space, while the latter is way too catchy with its shuffling beat and skippable melody (by skippable I mean, like, the act of skipping with your legs, not skipping as in skipping songs. Just thought I'd clear that up). 'Raymond Play' starts off sounding like a Super Mario Bros level, if Mario was tripping on 1-up mushrooms.

However, the album it not without its weak points. It does at times get too caught up in synths, which distract from the melodies. Plus it gets a little too quirky to be enjoyable to the fullest. Luckily, there is only one dud on Elephants ('Why Try?'), and even that is kind of catchy. For a debut album from someone practically unheard of, the sounds here are totally fresh and wonderfully exploratory. Dumbo Gets Mad is secretly leading the 10s in the right direction.




Tracklist:
1. Limbo's Village
2. Plumy Tale
3. Marmelade Kids
4. Sleeping Over
5. Harmony
6. Why Try?
7. Eclectic Prawn
8. Self-esteem
9. Raymond Play
10. You Make You Feel

-Julian