[rating=7.00]
Over the past decade and a half, Philadelphia-based Dr. Dog have been busy releasing albums every year or two, and touring incessantly. 2016 saw both the release of The Psychedelic Swamp early in the year as well as a surprise online release of the mellow Abandoned Mansion. The former was a reimagining of the unreleased LP made by Dr. Dog co/singer/songwriters McMicken and Leaman while the latter was an album recorded prior to The Psychedelic Swamp, yet shelved in favor of working on the experimental TPS. Last year found the members of Dr. Dog taking a well-deserved break where they could concentrate on family life and what direction the band should head in. McMicken and Leaman had both been writing songs during the break and took the band to LA to record with producer Gus Seyffert who helped to shape the beginning of a new chapter for Dr. Dog with Critical Equation.
From the start, Critical Equation sounds both familiar and completely new. Album opener “Listening In” immediately gives listeners an indication of how the album is going to play out. The catchy guitar riffs of past albums still pop up in places but have been mostly exchanged for synths and effects. “Buzzing in the Light”, while carried by synth and minimal guitars, still has the feel of a timeless Dr. Dog song that could be found on any of their albums from the past decade. The title track begins as a slow folky ballad and while the tempo doesn’t really pick up, it turns a lot more psychedelic with the addition of synths. “Night” seems out of place with its weird sci-fi effects laid over minimal instrumentation, yet still manages to fit in frame of the overall album. The album closer, “Coming Out of the Darkness”, feels the most like past Dr. Dog songs with its funky bass groves and staccato guitar strums paired with McMicken and Leaman’s familiar harmonizing.
The vocal stylings on Critical Equation are also familiar to longtime fans, but the music almost sounds like a culmination of all their past albums, mixing the psychedelic of We All Belong and Easy Beat with the best of the ballads from Fate and Abandoned Mansion. Gone are the fast-paced, catchy tunes of B-Room and Be The Void, swapped out for slower, infectious ballads. While this evolution has been happening over the past two releases, Dr. Dog has finally managed to perfect this new direction on Critical Equation. Where the band will go from here remains to be seen, however, anyone who is more than a fair-weather fan will be pleased with this addition to Dr. Dog’s prolific catalog.
