Review: Dear Tonight - We're Not Men

Label: Red Leader Records

Released: July 3, 2007

Because Dear Tonight hails from Brooklyn, I suspected they'd be at least somewhat about hipster cool cleverness and indie rock irreverence. The reality though is that there's no sheen of cool over this band. In fact, there's no sheen of anything at all. This is hardcore at its genuine, honest best.

Following in the footsteps of Fugazi and Hot Water Music, Dear Tonight has created a multi-faceted record of both crunch and complexity as well as delicacy and simplicity. Each song is an unstoppable force upon which rides angular grooves and subtly melodic guitar lines. The vocal interplay is far from the sappy whine and scream of emo. Instead, the gritty lead vocals are backed at times by screams, melodic whoa-ohhs and deliberately imperfect harmonies. The music moves like a machine having various moving parts with a common goal. The overall picture is that everything is ready to explode, but the anger, from personal to political, acts as the gravity that holds it all together.

Dear Tonight doesn't quite break free of its post-hardcore genre nor does it redefine it. What it does is to purify it and distill it into beautiful punk rock imperfection.

Rating: 7/10

Dear Tonight Website

Dear Tonight Myspace