I have heard Dion Roy’s name being dropped for awhile now, without actually hearing him at all! A former bassist with any number of dead end lower east side indie bands (translation: i don’t know what bands), he released an album last year and an EP, The Nearest Light, this past June which I have heard and which I like a lot and which I’ll like a lot more when I’ve heard the four songs more.
They are consistent and they are clever, but the hooks take a little while to hook themselves in. Though the opening track is a touch proforma -sorta Freedy Johnson in rocker music, the first 30 seconds of “Of Grey” and the other two songs are strong, moody beauties. “Long Way Down” clangs like REM before cutting like Ryan Adams. And “The Wave” -I guess that would be the single, is based around a superb guitar hook, that rushes in on the chorus like a power ballad. It is all mood shifts and sulky stares.
It is with little surprise that I noted on the press release the following: ” (The new album) is licensed for the upcoming seasons of MTV’s “The Real World” and “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” on E!.
Dion Roy is playing Rocklands August 5th at 7pm