Sleuth Dogs - Dreary Days EP

​Sleuth Dogs

Dreary Days EP
self-released; 2016

​3.8 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Andrew Gleason (guitar/vocals/mellotron), Ryan Colburn (bass/vocals), Andrew Nicholls (drums/percussion) and Emil Macasinag (keys) are the LA based band called Sleuth Dogs. They recently released a five-song EP entitled Dreary Days.

I hesitate to call this band straight rock because of the eclectic nature of the songs . Their music felt atmospheric, emotionally resonant and quite powerful but the rocking is kept to a minimum. For clarification I think that's a good thing. The superfluous amount of standard rock bands floating in the ether has reached a boiling point.

The first song “Nothing We Don't Own” has a hint of baroque pop in the essence of a band like Grizzly Bear. I was impressed by the unconventional rhythms and time changes. That being said it doesn’t feel jagged or unnatural. There is a sweet  groove. The song is quite catchy as well and has a unique guitar solo towards the end of the song. 

Up next is “Dreary Days” and this is the beginning of where the atmosphere that lends itself to post-rock comes into play. The guitar work is exceptional on this song and really takes the lead with the vocals. Not to say the rhythm section doing their part to keep the song moving with energy. 

“Explain” is another song that plays on atmosphere. The instrumentation surrounds you rather than standing right in front of you. It’s a calming song that has some warm reflective moments in it.“ Confessions” is a slow moving song but quite epic with big moments. 

They close with “Out There” which felt like the most straightforward rock/alternative type of song. There is more than a hint of a ’90’s band on this song. Not a bad thing if you ask me. Besides having some good songs the album also has some good production. I thought the aesthetics fit the music and that’s really all you can hope for when recording. Overall, Dreary Days is an impressive EP from a band that has a lot of range.

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