Dentist - Night Swimming

Das Trio aus New Jersey taucht auf seinem dritten Album „Night Swimming“ tief ein in schrammelnden Indiepop und eingängigen Surfrock, irgendwo zwischen The Primitives, The Breeders, Dum Dum Girls, Veronica Falls, Best Coast und Honeyblood. 

Anhand der Aufzählung dieser Bands lässt sich schon erahnen, dass auch hier eine Frau hinter dem Mikrofon steht: 2008 traf mit Emily Bornemann (Gesang, Bass) ihren späteren Ehemann Justin Bornemann (Gitarre) und seit 2012 betreiben sie die Band Dentist, zu der aktuell noch Schlagzeuger Matt Hockenjos zählt. 

„Night Swimming“, das Ende Juli Cleopatra Records veröffentlicht wurde (jedoch leider nicht auf Vinyl) erhielt viele gute Besprechungen:

‘Alone In The Garden’ is the perfect example of the delicious bounce this band create with fuzzy guitars and cool beats that work perfectly on this track together.
Emily Bornemann’s voice is incredible and is one of the highlights of the record. A vocal that goes with the easy, almost hippy vibes of the album in it’s moments, tracks such as ‘All Is Well (In Hell)’ is the perfect example of this. Easy guitars that harmonise with Bornemann’s vocals to perfection, it’s a stand out on this album and that soft tone continues to pull you in on tracks such as ‘Owl Doom Pt 2’.
Incredibly infectious and packed with cool melodies, Night Swimming is a fantastic listen from beginning to end. The beats grab you and Bornemann’s voice is just stunning from the start. Highlights for me on this album are ‘Alone In The Garden’, ‘All Is Well (In Hell)’ and ‘Tight Spot’.
(Thinking Lyrically)

Opener ‘Upset Words’ is absolutely barnstorming, relentless in its melodicism and absolutely packed with earworms which move in unexpected directions. Like the body of the record, there’s something galvanisingly youthful about it – from the way the band play like their lives depend on it (the sort of devil may care attitude you can only really embody in your salad days) to the longing, carnal naivety of the vocal performance.
It’s a record absolutely bursting with personality- the band seamlessly veer between a moment of garage-rock aggression to plaintive moments of dream pop while maintaining a very clear identity and recognisable set of sensibilities.
‘Oh’ – another song fixated on anxiety and longing, is a densely harmonious tune that you get the impression Bethany Consentino would kill to write. Figure-Four echoes the criminally underrated and sorely missed Veronica Falls, it’s brittle, sparse parts building tension around the disarmingly honest vocal. ‘Owl Doom Pt.2’ is the record’s most ponderous moment- a welcome moment of respite given the relentlessness of everything that came before. Spidery, plaintive guitar lines recall the likes of Yo La Tengo.
(God Is In The TV)

It is in the freedom of Emily Bornemann’s vocals that the stirring of passion is felt keenly, the aggressive nature of the song-writing and drum performance giving credence to the opposition that punk, in all its forms and personalities, can muster if utilised and not allowed to sell out. In songs such as Alone In The Garden, Tight Spot, Figure-Four, All Is Well (In Hell) and Oh, the threesome live up completely to the history and the track record of their state musical heroes and keen fan observances and make good on their state motto of Liberty and Prosperity, the nature of understanding that the fight required sometimes draws on both to succeed.
Night Swimming is a very good album in which to sink into, to let the thought of the Atlantic shoreline please you and spark the revolution inside and to take the advice, and the warnings of the Dentist.
(Liverpool Sound And Vision)