The Dears Degeneration Street

Moody, atmospheric, highly melodic indie pop from Canada -- these days folks don't seem to be able to get enough of it, but it should be noted that The Dears were there first, and they wrote the book on the subject. The world at large will be reminded of that fact by the band's fifth album, Degeneration Street. The Dears engaged the services of Tony Hoffer (Beck, Belle and Sebastian, BRMC, et al) to produce their new batch of tunes, and they tried to address the irksome phenomenon of album leaks in an unusual way: by playing the album in its entirety at live shows before the record's release, in an effort to help satiate fans' curiosity. But did that strategy help The Dears' cause or did it simply increase their audience's hunger for the newly recorded material even further? Hmmmm...

Abstract by Jim Allen