Dum Dum Girls

Too True

Throughout the course of two albums and a slew of EPs, Dum Dum Girls have established themselves as the missing link between retro-minded garage-rockers (e.g., the Raveonettes) and darker, girl-group-oriented acts (e.g., Vivian Girls). However, Too True is a marked departure from the Los Angeles band’s past work: Although produced by long-time collaborators Richard Gottehrer (Ramones, Blondie) and the Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner, the record largely eschews lo-fi psych-pop and ’60s garage jangle. The goth-shimmered guitar riffs and powerful vocals on the surging “Rimbaud Eyes” conjure Morrissey circa Your Arsenal, while other songs take cues from moody dreampop (the Lush-like “Cult Of Love”), fuzzed-out glam (“Lost Boys & Girls Club”) and Britpop (“In The Wake Of You,” “Evil Blooms”). At the same time, Too True’s delicate moments are wrenching; the sighing “Too True To Be Good” resembles Siouxsie And The Banshees’ aching theater, while frontwoman Dee Dee Penny coos, “Trouble is my name, is it your name too?” on the hypnotic album-closing ballad “Trouble Is My Name.” Too True preserves what makes Dum Dum Girls great, while pushing the band to brilliant new heights.

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“Rimbaud Eyes”