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Dancer Equired – Times New Viking

“Dancer Equired” is an album of seemingly accidental and unintentional, but purposeful concessions. The tracks are short and often end abruptly. The distortion and imperfect time of instruments is unpolished. But these are the sort of purposeful concessions that convey the ultimate aesthetics of the album. Hints of surf, wall of sound, 60s girl bands, Velvet Underground (the keyboards on “Ways to Go” are reminiscent of the piano of “All Tomorrow’s Parties”), punk, shoe gaze and lo-fi are throughout “Dancer Equired.” These elements meld together in a fuzz-driven expression of both apathy and anticipation.

I feel, can you believe it, a bit pretentious and ambiguous with that descriptive paragraph. So I’ll try to defend phrases like “expression of both apathy and anticipation.” There are moments of energy, but also a laziness and sloppiness to the entire music process on this album that I really enjoy. There are flaws that communicate a stronger connection between the musicians and the music than something played perfectly. It is the same concept that drives the emotion expressed by a singer such as Otis Redding, meaning that the chorus may not be the exact same every time it is sung or played because the musician decides what is right at that particular moment.

“Dancer Equired” by Times New Viking is a good album. You should listen to it. It is the least noisy, most melodic Times New Viking album yet, which makes it more approachable and an easier listen for those who dislike noisier music and want more pop than art when it comes to noise-pop.

-Matthias Brown