#40
Dum Dum Girls: “Coming Down”
[from Only In Dreams / Sub Pop] 

I hate lumping things together into classifications, but a few years back, there was a definite genre movement of ladies strapping on electric guitars, plugging them into the cheapest fuzz box available and taping their creations on the closest nearby four-track cassette machine. It was raw, it was exciting and it was a harbinger of the changing philosophies that surrounded the recording and distribution of music. At the head of this bold charge stood one Kristen Gundred (aka Dee Dee Penny) as she appeared seemingly out of nowhere to most with her first self-titled and self-released Dum Dum Girls EP.

Three years later with Only In Dreams, Gundred has increased not just the size of her band, but also the sheer expanse of her sound. While featuring much of the same grit found on her original boom box recordings, “Coming Down” is also a gigantic artistic leap forward that would feel right at home amongst a box set of Jesus & Mary Chain A-sides. The fragility and lonesome quality that’s clear in Gundred’s voice is a perfect counterbalance to the unapologetic brassiness and attitude that she normally so admirably displays. As with the lyrical inspiration of “Coming Down”, this song will make it’s way deep into your marrow and stick around for good.

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