End of Daze

Since forming in 2008, Kristin Gundred (aka Dee Dee) and her Dum Dum Girls have kept themselves busy: singles and EPs with labels like Captured Tracks and HoZac, two albums and an EP for Sub Pop, and entire albums' worth of elusive homemade cuts you might as well say were released via the internet. The ultra-prolific, shoestring-budget business model has been employed by countless lo-fi acts, though often with precious little progression or transcendence outside of local scenes. But with an ever-evolving frontwoman and some sturdy outside guidance (venerable girl group/punk rock producer Richard Gottehrer and Raveonettes leader Sune Rose Wagner have shared production duties for most of the Girls' releases), the Dum Dums shake these cliches. It's enough to make End of Daze, their fourth Sub Pop release in three years, feel like an awaited update rather than a case of over-saturation. The new EP features increasingly atmospheric material (some of it recorded just after the sessions for 2011's Only In Dreams) that further tests the waters explored on soul-searching cuts like Dreams' "Coming Down." That means pushing the typical guitar onslaught even further into the background, giving well-deserved space to Dee Dee's burgeoning skills as a brassy vocalist and introspective songwriter. Aside from all the soul-searching, she's also showing some bona fide soul.