The year was 2010, lofi surf rock had been inescapable in the indie rock soundscape, and a year earlier MGMT managed to be omnipresent thanks to a handful of huge singles off of debut album Oracular Spectacular (an album that is still stupid fun, and I think maybe a little better for being a tongue-in-cheek project by art students), and Chillwave, the genre that never really was, somehow managed to become a buzzword.
Somehow, some slackers from Massachusetts led by a man, who refused to divulge his name, managed to embody the best aspects of each genre du jour. Dom put out a ridiculously fun EP, Sun Bronzed Greek Gods that was scuzzy, catchy and included songs about a semi-feral house cat, making out with Jesus and a ragingly jingoistic would-be anthem.
Obviously, sweet pop music with just enough edge about intentionally bizarre topics was irresistible to me, and I loved this band’s music, but equally importantly, I really enjoyed the weirdo persona the group cultivated.
A lot of bands can create some DIY grooves and give a great interview, but not everyone starts a party line or posts ads to Craigslist looking for a platonic matronly figure.
The next year, still riding a wave of goodwill, Dom released Family of Love an awesome five-song EP that covered extremely similar terrain to their first release–parties, apathy, fake electro anthems. But the second EP showed some recording quality growth and included a few style experiments (using a touch tone phone as an instrument and bringing in a guest speaker were particularly successful) that suggested Dom was actually building toward something.
Then, nothing. Dom is still making music as a solo artist and under a different name.I can’t say I’ve really enjoyed his newer stuff as much as I enjoyed those first two releases. I’ve seen plenty of bands I love fizzle out, go on extended hiatus or fail to deliver on the promise of early EP’s, but it’s always really bummed me out I never got to hear what the major studio version of Dom’s brand of anarchic pop would sound like.
The 11 songs across two EP’s seem to be the totality of the group’s work, and I fully recommend obtaining all of them and creating on full-album length playlist of weird, electronic-tinged indie pop.