Always looking to tinker and experiment with their sound,
Dr. Dog push their melodic, psych rock sound in a rawer direction on their seventh album,
Be the Void. The album finds the band stepping away from the intricately crafted sound of their earlier albums in favor of a more vibrant, spontaneous vibe, resulting in an album that feels looser without ever feeling lazy. The languid thump of "Lonesome," the album opener, immediately paints a picture of a group who are making an effort to just feel their way through a song rather than over-thinking it. While a lot of bands tend to get a bit aimless when taking this approach,
Dr. Dog have such a refined sense of songcraft that their "loose" is another band's "finely crafted." Even at their rawest and most instinctive,
Dr. Dog can't help but write songs with layers upon layers of pop harmonies, allowing the instruments to deftly dance around one another on songs like "Heavy Light." To add to the more primal vibe of the album,
Be the Void is swaddled in a warm fuzz that kind of rounds off the edges and gives the whole album a stripped-down, elemental feeling. Though this puts the album miles away from the meticulously assembled pop of
Easy Beat sonically, its sense of exploration makes it a kindred spirit. After all of these albums,
Dr. Dog still haven't lost their love of pop music, and the more organic nature of
Be the Void proves that melody isn't just in the band's heart, it's in their DNA. ~ Gregory Heaney