Review
Review
Album Of The Week: Dazy – OUTOFBODY
Dazy's latest blast of perfect indie pop is our pick of the week's new releases
Since August 2020, Dazy (aka James Goodson) has been turning out fuzzy, fizzy pop songs at an astounding rate. His output between then and April 2021 amounted to 24 songs, all collected together as the appropriately titled MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD. There’s a sense through all of it that Goodson was a mad scientist on an increasingly obsessive quest, holed up in his DIY laboratory trying to concoct the perfect hook. If so, then his eureka “It’s alive!” moment is OUTOFBODY, maybe the best 26 minutes of indie rock this side of the 90s.
Dazy’s formula is simple: Goodson’s emphatic voice, a red-lining fuzz pedal and a drum machine. Occasionally an acoustic guitar will ring out through the static but, other than that, it’s a restrictive toolbox that puts the onus squarely on the songs. But those songs! Goodson is clearly a disciple of poptastic 90s alt-rock, particularly the Super/Drag triumvirate of Super Deluxe, Superdrag and Imperial Drag. His melodic knack exceeds all the above though. In essence, OUTOFBODY is just one gigantic smile of a record; if your foot isn’t tapping 30 seconds in, it might be time for medical intervention.
In another era, songs like ‘On My Way’ (with a delicious soupcon of Beck), ‘Split’ and ‘Rollercoaster Ride’ would have been MTV2 staples. Drop them into a 90s mixtape between ‘Radiation Vibe’, ‘Sucked Out’ and ‘Popular’ and nobody will bat an eyelid. This is a throwback to an era when the chorus was king and nobody hits it quite like Goodson. When that glorious guitar line kicks in for the first refrain in ‘Rollercoaster Ride’, it’s like a double rainbow after an apocalyptic storm. You can almost picture Goodson like a power pop Eddie Munson, plugging in and banishing the darkness with three massive chords.
While much of the praise for OUTOFBODY (and there’ll be plenty) will focus on how ridiculously catchy these songs are, Goodson’s lyrical knack deserves a mention. His words are sparse, profound in their unpretentious minimalism, full of memorable refrains like: “Sold my soul for the asking price”, or “Please keep your arms inside of the ride, you’re gonna need them just to hold on for dear life” from ‘Rollercoaster Ride’.
‘Rollercoaster Ride’ isn’t just OUTOFBODY’s best song (although it’ll seem like every song is the best song until the next one), it’s also the best description of the record as a whole. It’s a series of dizzy peaks, thrills that seem to rise exponentially into oblivion, lurching turns and delirious rushes. And once it’s all over you just want to do it again and again and again.
OUTOFBODY is available to buy and stream from 28 October.
