The D’Urbervilles – We Are Hunters

When you first hear The D’Ubervilles, you’re going to be told two things: they’re an indie band and they’re Canadian. The latter is true, and the former is only about 1/5 of what you’ll really experience when you finally listen to We Are Hunters. With a name inspired by an antiquated Thomas Hardy novel about one of the most tragic characters in history, it’s easy to assume that The D’Urbervilles material will sound both dated and overly self-indulgent. I did. The good news is that the sound is, thankfully, much more varied.

The title track alone effectively jumps from familiar indie fare to ’80s retro, dabbles in what sounds like something from a demo by the The Strokes, and then ends with a minimalist organ chord after Steve Reich’s own heart. Even more impressive, it does this within three and a half minutes. While listeners could come out of it with whiplash once the following track, “Dragnet,” breaks in, the transitions are so seamless that you almost fail to notice the shifts without going back for a second listen.

We Are Hunters is also a very self-aware creation. While the album is strong on variety in composition and arrangement, lyrics are kept to a minimum and are fairly simplistic, letting the personality of the instruments and melodies lead the songs. The words are often just a function for the music instead of the anchor everything else hinges on, The D’Urbervilles making it clear that they’ve got an idea of their strengths and weaknesses. In a song like “Spin the Bottle,” the guitars are right at the forefront, while vocals only come in most prominently during a one verse and during a chorus. The blend with the instrumentation that almost makes them difficult to decipher but in a way that feels deliberate, making them part of the soundscape instead of an element lost to overproduction.

It’s a wholly strong effort, though sometimes hindered by the fact that the “hunt” occasionally feels aimless. Most tracks move around enough to stay engaging, recorded with very open, resonant drums that make sure the beat keeps pushing listeners along. However, the progression of the theme that is setup early isn’t always clear from one track to the next. It’s an ambitious record from a band with a lot of potential.

One other great thing about their debut: it clocks in at just a few minutes over the half-hour mark. The D’Urbervilles get in, rattle brains, and then get out. Efficiency and brevity are their virtues. It leaves you to wonder if that’s just how everybody’s doing it in Canada these days, hiding out and waiting to dazzle audiences with high-energy, mildly schizophrenic anthems so clean that halfway through the album, you just have to sit back and wonder if it all translates just as well live.

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Tagged as: canada, Indie Rock

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