Dum Dum Girls’ New EP “End of Daze,” Contains Far More Than Petty B-Sides

By: Curtis Sindrey –

The five songs that create Dum Dum Girls’ new EP End of Daze, were originally recorded for their latest LP Only In Dreams, but these tracks are far from petty b-sides. The EP continues the musical journey that the band explored on Dreams, and many of the same themes are touched upon, only in a deeper context.

Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist Dee Dee (a.k.a. Kristin Gundred) has continued her trek into a very melancholic territory, often touching on highly personal topics like love and loss, particularly that of her mother who battled cancer and ultimately succumbed to the disease. It’s a personal record and is unapologetically sad, yet hopeful. She doesn’t “want to fade, she wants to shine.”

The album launches into the catchy “Mine Tonight,” which grabs you with an effectively distorted guitar hum and hushed, yet vividly present vocals. It sounds like a top-40 pop song, if it wasn’t for the track’s menacing apocalyptic undertones.

The EP also features a cover song originally by the Scottish new wave band Strawberry Switchblade called “Trees and Flowers.” Dum Dum Girls succeeds at maintaining the same dream-pop-instrumentation that is found in the original and from a band who has covered such eclectic acts such as The Smiths, Rolling Stones and Big Star, “Trees and Flowers” is one of their strongest covers.

The EPs single “Lord Knows,” is beautiful in its simplicity and cements Dum Dum Girls as a group who has outgrown their low-fi, bedroom-recorded roots. Throughout this song, and the closer “Season in Hell,” there’s an evident maturity in Dee Dee’s vocals and songwriting and it props the band up from the angsty sound that defined their earlier recordings.

While they have progressed in terms of their sound, the EP, specifically the tracks “I Got Nothing” and “Lord Knows,” are affected by a time-lapse between both recordings. The EP’s first three songs (“Mine Tonight,” “I Got Nothing,” and “Trees And Flowers”) were recorded in 2011, while the final two tracks “Lord Knows” and “Season In Hell” were recorded in 2012. It made the EP feel somewhat disconnected, at least musically, but lyrically, there is a cohesive nature between these songs.

This EP serves as a much-needed musical therapy session for Dee Dee and with its lyrical vulnerability and musical exploration, it serves as a strong release for a band that has yet to get the recognition they should have received albums ago.