Absurdly cool dream noise-pop quartet Dum Dum Girls brought their effortless style to Allston’s Brighton Music Hall on Sunday night after the release of their equally as cool new EP, End of Daze.
Frontwoman Dee Dee walked the crowd through material from their 2010 debut all the way up to the finale of their new single “Lord Knows,” in five-inch heels, no less. At first, she, along with the rest of the band, seemed a bit hesitant or off-kilter — the mics and guitars sounded somewhat muffled and each hip sway came off somewhat forced.
The band’s lineup changed recently, when guitarist Bambi left after the release of 2011’s Only In Dreams to pursue other projects. So at first I attributed the band’s obvious discomfort to that. However, about halfway through the set, after rousing applause from the audience on the nostalgic dream-poppy “Bedroom Eyes”, Dee Dee smiled and remarked, “Wow, this is our loudest Boston crowd ever — we thought you guys didn’t like us.”
After that, a switch seemed to flip, both literally and figuratively, as a light show was projected behind the band (at Brighton Music Hall no less, a venue not known for a particularly stellar lighting system). The band seemed to find their rhythm, dancing together onstage and playing to the crowd in the front as they ran through standout tracks like “Hold Your Hand,” “I Got Nothing” and “Jail La La.”
Dum Dum Girls falls into that same strain of nostalgic girly power-punk-pop that has made a comeback these past few years, along with acts like Vivian Girls, Best Coast and Frankie Rose, but I would argue that Dee Dee’s brand of pop is the strongest of them all. Every last guitar riff, vocal effect and lyrical structure comes off as perfectly cohesive and tightly produced— it’s almost like they’ve got noise pop down to a science. While many of these other female pop-punk sort of acts rely on gimmick or some kind of singular element to define them, Dum Dum Girls have the whole package — the talent, the writing and, unforgettably, effortless cool.
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