Music Review: Dick Diver, Melbourne, Florida

By Tyler Hodg

Returning with their third LP, Melbourne, Florida, Dick Diver looks to further prove themselves as an up and coming group to watch out for. The Australian band’s sound is pop at its core, with all the fixings that make up an indie band nowadays: slower, spacey songs with way too much reverb. Although Melbourne, Florida has a current style to it, unfortunately it isn’t up to the quality of what else is out there at the moment.

Dick Diver is able to pull off what previously seemed to be impossible; the band’s sound is both incredibly modest, while being incredibly pretentious. The songs are written and performed with a certain low-key aspect to them that can probably be traced back to the bashfulness of the band members themselves. But unfortunately, instead of coming off as authentic and organic, Diver Diver’s music is monotonous and just plain boring. Where the pretentiousness originates from is in the lack of effort that seems to be exerted by the band. The performances are sloppy, and every single song on the record sounds like it was intentionally played that way. They give off the impression that this attitude is “hip,” however, it comes off as the total opposite.

Additionally, it’s quite baffling that a band would choose to purposely avoid tuning their guitars before recording a song, but apparently Dick Diver decided it wasn’t a necessity. They are definitely not the first band to do it, nor will they be the last, but the untuned guitar phase really needs to end. Possibly the biggest example is on the song “Leftovers”; the track itself is fairly well-written, but the guitar ruins what could have been a highlight of the fairly low-impact album.

With that said, there are certain stand-out moments from Melbourne, Florida, all of which can be accredited to the horn section featured on the songs, “Year in Pictures,” “Blue Time,” and “View From a Shaky Ladder.” The added instruments sprinkle a touch of personality into the songs, making the three tracks they are featured on ones to check out. The album would have greatly benefited from including the horn section in the rest of the tracks, but respectfully, the band seems to have felt that not all of the songs called for it.

Without a doubt, Dick Diver is talented and has potential, but their latest effort does not hit the mark. Its negatives outweigh the positives, which means Melbourne, Florida is an album that you don’t need to rush out to listen to. Basically, keep an eye on Dick Diver, but skipping this album would be an astute decision.

Melbourne, Florida was released by Trouble In Mind on March 10.