Dent May
Words by Tom Meltzer
Imagine Beirut’s Zach Condon singing with a lounge jazz band on a beach in Hawaii. And then substitute the horn for a ukulele. Add the occasional dash of barbershop, a little crooning and the odd 50s backing singer and you start to get some idea of the distinctive, joyous sound of Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele. It’s twee, it’s tongue-in-cheek and it’s as catchy as crabs.
Based out of a caravan somewhere in the wilds of Mississippi, Dent May is half-Napoleon Dynamite, half-Young Conservative, alternating between bespectacled geek-chic freak and tux-wearing cruise singer. Musically he’s a patchwork of playful homages, deliberately undermining his sometimes melancholy musings with kitschy backing vocals. Yet somehow it works - listening to the upbeat Oh, Paris! is like mainlining a summer breeze.
Trying to isolate any major influence (apart from George Formby) on Dent May is difficult. Clearly this band has drunk deep from the well of obscure pop nostalgia. But his music is more than a mosaic of stolen gimmicks. Lyrically it drips with the surreal experiences of a cosmopolitan growing up in small town America.
How would he describe his music? “Its spirit animal is a fuzzy kitten”, he says with characteristic brevity. And he’s pretty much nailed it - this is the type of music you cuddle up with when you’re feeling down but music that, after you’ve played with it for a few weeks, just might start scratching the furniture and shitting on the carpet. Music this saccharine can often turn from great to grating after a few listens. Or in the case of, say, Mika, halfway through the first listen.
There’s more to Dent May than picnics and lollipops though, and a bluesy ballad about alcoholism demonstrates a mature restraint. He even manages to make a ukulele sound mournful. Dent writes about dark times as if they’re light times, blending low and high.
“We’re all capable of being bastardly,” he admits, “but I think most people are generally delightful.” It comes out in his songs - a totally unabashed, unironic love of life. His songs are comic, but not at anyone’s expense. They just don’t take themselves seriously, and clearly nor does Dent; asked to name the greatest musician around today, his answer is “R Kelly”. We think this must be a joke - but with Dent May it’s hard to tell. It could be madness, but it’s a thin line to genius.
http://www.myspace.com/dentmay
Posted Tue, March 03, 2009