PFC Records Special Part 1: Dashwood, 'Hurt/Heal'

Dashwood, 'Hurt/Heal'

I saw Dashwood the other week supporting Wrong Answer and Kingdom at their hastily rearranged London show and, while I liked them, they didn’t strike me as the kind of band who would put out an EP that is this good.

I mean no disrespect here, but there are plenty of bands who might be impressive live but will leave you feeling a little deflated upon rushing home to hit them up on Spotify/Bandcamp/Your illegal music site of choice. Case in point being The Elijah, a band so bland on record you wouldn’t believe they were capable of melting your face with their prog-lite riffs when you see them live.

‘Hurt/Heal’ is pleasantly surprising. There are a lot of good ideas that are executed very well. Opener ‘Lost and Alone’ (not the Heights song) grows from a rather generic sounding opening to a fast paced, dissonant riot of riffs and anger complete with a two-step demanding ending. ‘Augury’ (not the Bastions song) is similar, but is pulled off even better with some fiery fretwork and the sound of a drum kit being methodically beaten to death accompanying lyrics along like ‘I don’t care about heaven or hell’ and similar themes. ‘Interlude’ and ‘Persist’ also show a more ambitious side to the band, with the stereotypical hardcore song structure being abandoned in favour of a more abstract, instrumental approach that shows that Dashwood are a band that can clearly do more than right the same two and a bit minute hardcore songs as everyone else.

That being said this is by no means a flawless EP. ‘Splinter’ sounds too much like a Witch Cult rip off to be taken seriously while ‘Idle Minds’ is, for me, spoiled by a very prominent and jarring lyrics along the lines ‘It’s a pity you’re a spoilt little brat/ strutting around in your fucking top hat’ which for some reason really grates on me. Above both of these however is the production. Now I know this is a very much lo-fi release, which is fine. However, it isn’t a demo so someone really could have sorted the drums out which sound like they were recorded in a shed, full of blankets, at the bottom of the studio’s back garden.

All in all though this is a very promising release with far more positives than negatives. Check it out, support a small label and enjoy it.

Patchx