So Inspired So Done In/Limited Black-Bio Vinyl

Description

After seven years of relative silence and thirteen years of existence, Dog Chocolate is back with “So Inspired, So Done In.” Their fourth album is their most accomplished, coherent, and melodic to date. Their sound remains a bit messy, but with a touch of sweetness. While most of the sixteen tracks barely exceed three minutes, each is brimming with textures and colors, like an office cupboard filled with old candies, fluorescent markers, and a thousand and one ways to stick papers together. Thematically, the album explores a wide range of subjects, from surprising conversations to healing toenail fungus, as well as the Rogerian concept of the Actualizing Tendency, living conditions in the Bronze Age, the genesis of dreamlike songs, and the relationships between humans and the plant world. Work (and anti-work) is a recurring theme, as are artistic inspiration and burnout. Dog Chocolate revels in the everyday and the anecdotal to explore deeper existential questions. Recorded and mixed by Toby Burroughs (POZI) and mastered by Sofia Lopes, “So Inspired, So Done In” traces a long and confusing period in the band's life, marked by significant upheavals, losses, and transformations, imbuing the frantic, quirky, and anxious energy that characterizes the band with a contemplative dimension. Dog Chocolate continues to explore its inner and outer landscapes with playful curiosity, frustration, fantasy, and empathy. Band Prehistory: In the early 2000s, Andrew (vocals), Rob (guitar, vocals), and Matthew (guitar, vocals) played together as teenagers in Yeborobo, a surreal, maximalist, costumed punk band based in Southeast London. There, they met drummer Jonathan, who played with Limn, a masked band where musicians swapped instruments, at the Utrophia art space in Deptford. Later, after both bands split, Dog Chocolate formed, driven by a shared desire to create a band simpler than their theatrical past: small amps and light guitars, no more than two drums simultaneously, a keyboard no longer than a ruler, and a shared philosophy: “It's about investing yourself, but at the same time not caring, but without settling for little, above all, never giving up!” The band coined the term “briefcase punk” to describe their messy, colorful, dense, and instantaneous music. Dog Chocolate built its raw and spontaneous style over several albums, refining its sonic identity. Their first single, “Or” (2014), was a split with Ravioli Me Away, quickly followed by “Snack Fans” (2016) and “Moody Balloon Baby” (2018). They have also shared bills with bands as diverse as Deerhoof, No Age, Dry Cleaning, Palm, Daniel Wakeford, Shopping, and Pozi.