Franco Rossino
is pondering the endless loop that is his life in the song "Pull Me Up" when he says, too tired to really be angry, "Feels like nothing ever changes, pushing boulders, picking clovers, making bread." His frustration sounds so real and deeply felt that it takes a moment to remember that it's also fictional.
Rossino
is the lead singer and guitarist with the Canadian indie rock band
Dumb
, and their third album, 2022's
Pray 4 Tomorrow
, had more than its share of songs about the travails of modern life. But the group's grand paradox is while they create convincingly dour characters, the angular energy of this music and the zeal with which it's played stands in contrast to the lyrics, full of life and an undeniable scrappy joy. As on their first two albums (2018's
Seeing Green
and 2019's
Club Nites
),
seem to revel in the fact that they're obviously very smart, and they keep getting smarter each time out, without sounding pretentious or forcing the issues. Suggesting a cross between
Pavement
and
the Embarrassment
as fronted by Canadian grad students,
are endlessly clever without seeming the least bit self-conscious about it. Though they're not studied virtuosos, the guitar crosstalk from
Nick Short
is elemental and exciting, while bassist
Shelby Vredik
and drummer
Pipe Morelli
hold it all together with frameworks that are sturdy, imaginative, and pleasing.
are blessed with a wit that's effective but doesn't call attention to itself, and this band's gift for finding a glimmer of absurd laughter in the midst of the agonies of the modern world is as unexpected as it is welcome. Despite sometimes sounding as if they're making this up as they go along,
is too clever and too clearly relatable to not be the work of people who have smarts, heart, vision, and genuine humility. They even provide a lyrical bookend to "Pull Me Up" five tracks later, where an overscheduled working stiff clocks out with the well-earned words "It's all right, I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight." In their third round,
easily maintain their status as one of North America's most engaging indie rock acts, and
sounds like their best work to date. ~ Mark Deming