Dignan
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Tour Date 07/19/10 Freeburg legion* Freeburg, IL
07/20/10 Cicero’s* St. Louis, Mo 07/21/10 Main Street Cafe* Kansas City, MS 07/22/10 The Slowdown* Omaha, NE 07/23/10 Cafe Berlin* Columbia, MS 07/24/10 Pond Party* Wichita, Kansas 08/18/10 Dans Silverleaf ^ Denton, Tx 08/19/10 Collective ^ Shreveport, La 08/21/10 Disc Go Round^ Corpus Christi, Tx 08/27/10 Galeria 409# Brownsville, Tx 08/28/10 The Ten Eleven# San Antonio, Tx 08/29/10 Mohawk# Austin, Tx 08/30/10 Common Grounds# Waco, Tx 08/31/10 Clicks# Tyler, Tx 09/01/10 George’s Majestic# Fayettville, Ar 09/02/10 Jaunitas# Little Rock, Ar 09/03/10 Opolis# Norman, Ok 09/04/10 The Crystal Pistol* Tulsa, Ok 09/05/10 Hi- tone# Memphis, Tn 09/06/10 Main St. Bar & Grill# Tupelo, Ms 09/07/10 Old Town Tavern# Sheffield, Al 09/08/10 Engine Room# Tallahassee, Fl 09/09/10 Ecclesia# Newnan, Ga 09/10/10 Homemade Genius# 96, Sc 09/11/10 New Brookland Tavern# West Columbia, Sc 09/13/10 Rocc# Carmel, In 09/15/10 Rack & Roll# Riverview, Mi 09/16/10 Musica# Akron, Oh 09/17/10 Abbey Bar# Harrisburg, Pa 09/20/10 Snug Harborª Charlotte, Nc 09/21/10 Meatheadsª Greenville, Sc 09/23/10 Roofª Charleston, Sc 09/23/10 567 Cafe Macon, Ga 09/27/10 New World Brewery Tampa, Fl 09/28/10 New Life Center Sarasota, Fl 09/29/10 handlebar Pensecola, Fl 09/30/10 Alabama Music Box Mobile, Al 10/01/10 Star Bar Baton Rouge, La 10/02/10 Finnegans Wake Alexandria, La 10/03/10 Nightmare Dallas, Tx w/ The King and The Thief Discography
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Dignan @ 400 Bar, Minneapolis 7.12.10
Cheaters & Thieves LP
Why is it that indie musicians from Texas never have Southern drawls? Somebody should study this phenomenon with sociological parameters and get back to me (lara@weheartmusic.com).
Dignan hails from Texas, indeed, but naught a “ya’ll” was uttered during the band’s opening set at the 400 Bar on Sunday. It’s no secret that Midwesterners adore region-specific accents, probably because of our own special relationship with the letter ‘O.’ Fascinatingly, something else exists that turns us on even more than vowel disfiguration: lovely, arousing (yet, aesthetically chaste) male harmonization. It’s true, we go gaga over in sync.
This time around, the harmonies under scrutiny belong to a quintet of Southern kids with only a shade of Fleet Foxes envy. As I mentioned in my review of What Laura Says, the harmony bar has been set at Fleet Fox standards since early 2008; and within this canon, meticulously crafted songs are secondary to meticulous performances. Any band hoping for similar success must pass the first test: The Live Show.
If Dignan did not disappoint, they somewhat confused. Cheaters & Thieves (the band’s full-length debut), is pretty on the ears, an exercise in haunting melodic discourse. The album opens with the dark, chant-like “Fool”; from there it builds on vocal layers until about mid-way through “Pillars & Pews” when the emoting reaches dangerous, John Hughes levels, as Andy Pena’s voice (so vulnerable), threatens to crack on each note. Think Arcade Fire meets breezy, summer love…that is, summer love, as remembered years down the road in a bleak, whiskey haze. Each track is cool and intentional in its own way, often sounding positively wintery. While the vocals blend seamlessly, don’t be fooled—lyrics like “don’t take this wrongly, I wish you would die“ (“What’s Done Is Done”) are candid enough to keep Cheaters out of pure folk territory.
On stage, however, something else was happening. Stripped of studio sheen, Dignan never hesitated to crank up the volume, both literally and figuratively. Recalling remnants of the album and watching the band perform was almost akin to hearing a bi-polar artist sing the blues, alternating between a kind of depressive embrace and crude, feverish energy.
A tad dramatic? Perhaps, but Cheaters-the-album vs. Cheaters-the-live-show clearly received differing memos when it came to production style. The former’s might’ve read “less is more” while the latter’s pushed for a “balls to the wall” approach. The resulting Live Show lost some of the album’s quiet subtlety but gained veritable rock chops. Is that a bad thing? Well, as they say in the South, “different strokes…”
Dignan is Andy Pena (vocals/guitar), Devin Garcia (bass), David Palomo (aux instrumentals/vocals), and Heidi Plueger (keyboard/vocals). The band is currently touring with Minneapolis’s the King and the Thief. For a full list of dates, visit their Myspace or Facebook. Cheaters & Thieves is available on iTunes and Amazon.
07/19/2010 08:26:31 ♥ lara (
) ♥ myspace.com/dignan ♥ @DignanMusic xx