Illinois indie-rock/dance-punk stalwarts So Many Dynamos formed in 2002 and for this third full length they signed on the dotted line for Vagrant Records.
So Many Dynamos are the sonic equivalent of a bumpy road- it’s great if you’re up for that sort of thing, but if you’re expecting a smooth ride, you might find yourself a little agitated. Personally, I get a bit bored in cars if they don’t bump around a bit so ‘The Loud Wars’ is right up my street.
Not a band inhibited by traditional structure or arrangement, So Many Dynamos have a knack for constructing interesting and often sublimely geeky tracks. That’s either a gift or a curse over an album’s worth of tracks, but thankfully ‘The Loud Wars’ ends up relentlessly fun throughout.
Single ‘New Bones’ is the most obvious song to recommend as a starting point as it’s likely the most infectious, but ‘The Novelty of Haunting’ and opener ‘Artifacts of Sound’ are the real standout tracks after a few listens.
There’s more than a few parts where you feel you’d have to see a song live to ‘get it’ because it feels a little overcompressed, but the production is good overall and the record follows the band’s dynamics well.
So Many Dynamos definitely take a few listens to appreciate, and are the sort of band that will put a few people off by taking quite a different approach, but that’s not to be seen as a bad thing when the end result is as interesting as it is here.