Suburban Dirts | Taking a Look At Their Self-Titled Album

Suburban Dirts are an up and coming band from the U.K. who have a flare for creating bluesy dylanesque music.  Their Self-Titled album has been available for a few months now but they have yet to gain much of a fan base and that’s a shame. Suburban Dirts have a very well developed sound and they have a way of making each track on their new album resonate with real passion and emotion.   

The Suburban Dirts have a penchant for leaning stylistically, on one of the greats, namely Bob Dylan.  What makes a song or a band dylanesque? Well, the simple answer to that is it must be reminiscent of the music of Bob Dylan, a man made famous for his brand of music which became the sound track of a nation is revolt. These songs were about social discontent, political disillusionment and a subtle silver lining of hopefulness.  A lead singer with a slightly raspy voice is also a must. The album starts off with the track Tacho Breakdown Blues (Part Two) that features a classic blues guitar riff which has a reoccurring lyrical theme about Dostoyevsky that comes back by the end of the album.  Suburban Dirts have a definite streak of discontent, as can be heard in the lyrics for Lost In Transcription where lead singer John Wheatley  sings of an observation regarding a repeating of history in reference to Afghan War and hint at how its seems an awful lot like the Vietnam  War of Dylan’s era.  It’s fitting that the Suburban Dirts have taken this style, with this folksy vide laced with harmonica interludes, and infuse it with a few points of contention about the current state of society. 

Suburban Dirts are not about to start the impending revolution, they also have a number of lighthearted songs such as Ada and I Ain't Cut Out For Working 9 To 5. Ada is a song about a girl and I Ain’t Cut Out For Working 9 To 5 is self-explanatory from the title. Then there is the track The World It Turned  which features a Ukulele, it’s similar in style to Eddie Vedder’s 2011 attempt at making the music of a tiny guitar rock and roll with Ukulele Songs.   Stripped down to just vocals and a simple ukulele progression The World It Turned is a prime example of what talented musicians can do with a very simple musical premise.

All nostalgia aside, Suburban Dirts manage to bring together an album which is full of memorable moments and well executed songs that will no doubt find their way into the musical libraries of an awaiting public.