Dummy

L.A. group Dummy take a subtly nuanced approach to their brand of noisy indie pop, balancing chiming guitars, Motorik rhythms, and sweetly sung melodies with walls of distortion, overloaded keyboards, and manipulated found sounds. Early releases identified them as a band who had done their vinyl homework, seamlessly folding half-a-century of influences into their sound. 2021′s Mandatory Enjoyment, and their 2022 single for Sub Pop, began to make their case as equals to the groups from whom they had so artfully borrowed, while 2024′s Free Energy finds the band branching out into more danceable rhythms and new age-influenced soundscapes. Dummy formed in the late 2010s around the talents of two former members of Wildhoney, guitarists/vocalists Joe Trainor and Nathan O'Dell, plus organist/vocalist Emma Maatman and drummer Alex Ewell. Playing shows around the city, they honed an approach that borrowed equally from bands like Stereolab, Broadcast, Silver Apples, and Cluster who are able to mix interesting sounds with hooky songs. They recorded five tracks in their practice space, had them mixed by Joo Joo Ashworth of the like-minded group Froth, then Pop Wig Records released them in May 2020. That EP, and its similarly home-cooked, Ashworth-mixed follow-up EP from November, were enough to catch the attention of Trouble in Mind Records, which signed on to issue Dummy’s first full album. Recorded at home and in the studio, with Ashworth helping again, Mandatory Enjoyment saw the band following a similar sonic template as on their EPs, while also expanding into shoegaze, adding electronic textures, and tightening up the songwriting. The album was released by Trouble in Mind in October 2021. Dummy released a single in June 2022 as part of Sub Pop’s Singles Club; both sides, “Mono Retriever” and “Pepsi Vacuum,” saw the band working in the same mode as they did on their debut album. Sonic Cathedral’s Dumb E.P.s collection, which was released in September, gave fans new to the band a chance to discover their two early releases in one handy package. When it came time to record their second album, the band felt they had taken their previous sound as far as they could and decided to experiment with electronics and the process of recording. They worked mostly at home, utilizing computers, folding in field recordings made during their recent tour, and adding elements derived from new age and dance music to their sound, as well as working with experimental artists Jen Powers and Cole Pulice. The resulting album, Free Energy, was released in September of 2024 by Trouble in Mind. ~ Tim Sendra