Dawn Of Man

In The Bronze Age Dawn Of Man

The revolutionists that form Dawn of Man have been spreading their musical fury for nearly two decades. Brian Clancy formed one half the guitar attack of Washington, DC's Bluetip and has been grinding his teeth on his fretboard since the old Baltimore/DC basement punk days of his previous bands, Downer Boys and Blind Ambition. The latter, a hardcore band in which speed and thud psychotically coexisted, marked the first collaboration between Clancy and TV on the Radio's David Sitek. Sitek, deviser of the NYC dance-punk sound that grew from the Brooklyn rehearsal rooms of bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars to an international explosion, returns to the fold to brings his expertise as a producer to DOM's debut EP, In the Bronze Age. Confrontational and intimate, singer Alison Russell's voice is Michael McDonald's beard grown into the 19 year-old throat of Exene Cervenka. She jumps in hard on every line even if it's only to whisper that she wont let you go. James Quidlen and Andrea Zuraf make up the rhythm section, pounding together New Order's clanging drums with Jesus Lizard's overdriving bass. They give Sitek the open sesame to his production gifts, a backbeat that's an inseparable part of each song's emotional substance. The melodic pop heart of the EP, Dart Shipe's keys and Brian Clancy's layered feedback and guitar riffs, makes Siamese twins of Head on the Door-era The Cure and Nightlife-era Thin Lizzy. 'Bronze Age,' the second track, lyrically revels in the idea of a lawless and boundlessly creative civilization. As the anthem of minor chords descends into a coda, the rhythm section pulls back, and piano and guitars play what feels like a soundtrack to a desolate vista of a human age driven to bigger and better things. 'Its time to burn/in the Bronze Age/we are making things beautiful/I do what I want/because I've got no rules/I've got no laws.'