Jerry Lucky
Band: The Dame: Losing Sight of What You Want
Independent Release (2018)
Rating: A Refreshingly Unique and Winning Prog Style
This is the first release for the excellent new Dutch band The Dame. I love the irreverence of their name and I also like how they’ve crafted their image to play off their name and the time period it comes from. This disc features seven compositions, a full sixty-one minutes of music that is best described as smooth melodic prog in the vein of bands such as Landmarq and perhaps IQ and Panic Room. Fronted by a female vocalist and rhythm guitarist who’s vocals add a resolutely distinctive tone to the tunes, Sung in a smooth throaty fashion, Marian Van Charante imparts a wonderfully unique flair to all these songs. It was magical and seductive and won me over in just a few listens. In fact the more I listened the more I fell in love with the way she and band created their personal proggy vibe. I also liked the fact that they never fell into the “let’s just make it heavy” trap. Instead all these songs, including their eighteen minute epic closer all incorporate the “delicate and heavy” vibe together but what takes it another level is their quirky rhythmic and melody lines. The tunes are big and bold when the song needs to be and then downright cool and groovy in other spots. The one thing you can count on is that a tune rarely goes where you expect it, especially when it comes to singing the melody lines. These guys have really got it together. They all play extremely well and the fact they’ve thought about a “tone” for their musical direction says volumes about their musical commitment. Interestingly there were even a couple times where I was reminded of the British band Sailor and their “time-period thematic” style of composition. I really loved everything aboutThe Dame, they really have it all together and so I’m recommending you don’t hesitate but check them out!.