Album Review – Domino by Diners (2023) (Bar None Records)
After five previous albums, this Diners project of Blue Broderick seems to have suddenly been augmented by a new energy coursing through its typically languid beauty that adds layers of glorious grunt to her new Domino album.
Obviously somewhat attributable to the production of modern-day power-pop legend Mo Troper (Troper and his guitarist Brenden Ramirez also add instrumentation as the back-up band), tracks best represented by Working On My Dreams, the title track, The Power, and I Don’t Think About You The Way I Used to To add swathes of distortion, fuzz-pop, and massive chords to Broderick’s Kate Bollinger-style alto that always ensure the sound is rooted to her trademark beautiful vocals no matter how far it veers into more muscular territories. It is an augmentation that suits, as this Diners project has never felt quite so vital.
If all the above tracks still rely more readily of Blue Brodericks’ ability to fold such infusions neatly within the safety of her beautiful vocals, tracks such as So What, with it spiky angularity and almost post-punk style spluttering riffs, the Radiator Hospital style traditional pop perversions of Someday I’ll Go Surfing and the Hanemoon-style fuzzy, power-pop laden retro under-production of From My Pillow take her careering far away from anything she had done before.
The Broderick / Troper / Ramirez connection works with glorious effect as the Diners sound gets stretched to perfection.
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