Dizzy
On the cover of Dizzy’s self-titled third release, singer Katie Munshaw’s face fills the entire frame, but the seeming intimacy of the shot is tempered by the fact that she’s wearing a mask. It’s a fitting visual metaphor for a band that sounds like it’s ready for its close-up yet is still giving voice to those uncomfortable inner thoughts that are more easily delivered without direct eye contact. Munshaw grapples with that contradiction on “Open Up Wide,” a sassy Metric-esque synth-rocker with a withering, self-reflexive chorus—“Open up wide, gotta pay to rent/To rot away in my mom’s basement/Open up wide, gotta pay/To get the kids in front headbanging”—that does little to diminish its destiny as a surefire festival crowd-pleaser. For the first time, Dizzy has looked beyond their immediate circle for production guidance and enlisted Selena Gomez/Bebe Rexha associate David Pramik, who helps nudge the group further into arena-pop territory on sunrise-summoning bops like “Birthmark” and euphoric power ballads like “Are You Sick of Me Yet?” while still retaining the dreamy, post-shoegaze textures that permeated their past work. But even as their sound continues to expand out toward the rafters, the songs remain grounded in the brutal honesty of Munshaw’s songwriting: “Knock the Wind” may lull you into thinking it’s a gentle campfire serenade, but its spiteful sentiments (“I wanna hurt you like you did me, just because/Hold your head beneath the surface/In a pool of my own blood”) prove she’s not about to sugarcoat her lyrics to appease the masses.
With two albums already to their name the quartet have firmly established themselves as one of Canada’s most impressive alternative outfits. After a brief musical break, they’re back and with their self-titled third record in tow, Dizzy are sure-fire…
With two albums already to their name the quartet have firmly established themselves as one of Canada’s most impressive alternative outfits. After a brief musical break, they’re back and with their self-titled third record in tow, Dizzy are sure-fire…
Your daily dose of the best music, film and comedy news, reviews, streams, concert listings, interviews and other exclusives on Exclaim!
Your daily dose of the best music, film and comedy news, reviews, streams, concert listings, interviews and other exclusives on Exclaim!