Loney, Dear - Dear John

I listened to Loney Dear's latest, Dear John last night. I found it both new and interesting, and old and familiar. Old and familiar (isn't that the name of some kind of cheap whiskey?) because the harmonic structure tends to be strongly tied to a circle-of-fifths approach. Familiar chord patterns guide our ears pleasingly through centuries of tried-and-true basso continuo underpinnings, from Vivaldi to Jerome Kern. Loney, Dear even reveals to us a piece of this musical anchoring in the song "Harm/Slow" where Albinoni's famous organ adagio is thoroughly quoted.

Loney, Dear also gives us something new and interesting on Dear John. A beautifully realized collection of melodic songs that logically, carefully and unpretentiously manages to blend straight ahead pop, synthy dance, big orchestral sounds and more. It's a concept that works well and shows us that the intelligent blending of varied stylistic approaches (especially those styles which once seemed so non-reconcilable to one another) can work together towards a deeper refining of sophisticated pop artistry. 3.5/5

Listen for free at LaLa.com

Dear John on Polyvinyl Records

Loney, Dear's website