Neva Dinova - You May Already Be Already [CD]

Saddle Creek

June 3, 2008, 08:05 PM

I have always viewed Saddle Creek records as more of an elite club than a label. They rarely sign new bands and when they do they are usually artists closely associated with Bright Eyes, The Faint or Cursive. Having released the split EP ‘One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels’ with Bright Eyes on former label Crank! Records, Neva Dinova have been known to the Saddle Creek collective for some time and after front man Jake Bellows contributions to the Bright Eyes album ‘Cassadaga’ they were offered a deal. The bands third studio album ‘You May Already Be Dreaming’ is a giant step forward for a band who have struggled to gain the notoriety of their label-mates, if this album doesn’t pull them from Conor Oberst’s shadow like a tow truck wrenching a car stuck in the mud then nothing will.

Opening track ‘Love From Below’ is a bittersweet acoustic tale with an open story. Reminiscent of Johnny Cash at his most sincere and all the great elements that have sadly slipped away from contemporary folk music it is a beautiful ballad that’ll gladly bring a tear to your eye just as soon as it will a smile to your face. The haunting vocals of Jake Bellows will send a tingle up your spine throughout ‘You May Already Be Dreaming’ but none more so than on standout tracks ‘She’s A Ghost’ and the truly self indulgent but utterly breathtaking ‘No One Loves Me’.

The lyrical content of songs like ‘Supercomputer’ and ‘Someone’s Trippin’ is something to be admired, as Bellows sings the words ‘I want a new world and I’m gonna try to type in the numbers right and build us a sky and then divide it by seven so we can get us some light so we can see what we’re doin’ when we’re doin’ what were doin’. His sincerity and understanding of that simple helpless feeling is something I think we can all relate to. The true gem of ‘You May Already Be Dreaming’ is the poignant and simple ‘What You Want’. A faster paced melancholy dream with an irresistible guitar hook that runs throughout, this is a fantastic Weezer-esque anthem that will have audiences singing along to it’s ‘Oh Oh’ chorus for many years to come.

Neva Dinova represent a side to the music industry that is sadly becoming a thing of the past, content over image. The myspace generation in which we live seems to have forgotten that to be a truly great band it does not require a truly great fringe. Without sounding too jaded it’s just a sad state of affairs when an album this good is probably not going to get the exposure it deserves based on the way people view music these days. If you like your music plain, simple and amazing then this is an essential album to own.