One Night Stand in North Dakota - Dworkin's Bastard

  by Kelly Smith

published: 10 / 1 / 2009

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One Night Stand in North Dakota are a two-piece "DIY, Feminist, Vegan, Acousti-core" (don’t be put off by the self-labelled genre, it sounds infinitely more pretentious than the reality) band made up of Nathan Griffin and Daniel Ellis from my very own hometown of Durham. The pair are well established musicians in the North-East scene, having performed separately with success in previous bands. Sharing the vocals on this joint venture, and being aided by a number of other musicians and backing vocalists, they have created a tiny bit of magic with an unassuming look at everyday life. 'Dworkin’s Bastards' is an album of softly powerful songs; ones which you don’t realise at first will stay with you, but they get under your skin and hours later you’ll still feel affected by them. Lyrically, it’s an intelligent, funny and sweet album, full of warmth and humour and a general pissed off attitude which never crosses the line enough for you to disagree. Musically, the acoustic base of the songs gives an emotional background to the tracks which is always just enough and never overreaches itself for your attention. Although I struggle to see any tracks you’d be able to skip over, stand out tracks include 'We Definitely Didn’t Start the Fire', 'A Generous Exposition', 'Good News Everyone, I’m Technically Still Alive' and 'Neurotic.Boy.Outsider'. Each song tells a story, and each story is as interesting and as poignant as the last. 'If You Feel Attacked by Feminism, It’s Probably a Counter Attack' is a brilliant critique of the subtleties of feminism in society. It contains more relevant feminist information than much of my university Politics course, which is maybe down to me paying more attention to this album, but we’re not reviewing me here. One Night Stand in North Dakota tackle subject areas that more established songwriters would struggle to turn into something listenable. I don’t know if anyone would react as strongly to these songs if they didn’t know the places they were written about – in many ways, it’s an album about Durham, and even though the songs would sound as relevant elsewhere, I’m not sure that people would be as open to the emotions conveyed by Daniel and Nathan had they not grown up in the same streets. “You know the day’s a write-off, when even the Durham Advertiser is getting you down”, from ‘A generous exposition’ is the kind of lyric which will make anyone who connects with it smile, and I can only hope that anyone who listens from outside the area will understand what they’re talking about. One Night Stand in North Dakota are a phenomenal talent. I found every single track on this album beyond a joy to listen to. They’re optimistic but not without melancholy, and affecting without losing any light-hearted irony. In short, I can’t write enough about it. I’d implore anyone I met to listen to it. More so than much of what I’d choose to listen to before this, 'Dworkin’s Bastards' is basically essential. As One Night Stand in North Dakota themselves say “There is so much in my life, and if you like I’ll share it all with you”... Don’t let that offer pass you by.

Track Listing:-

1 A Generous Exposition
2 Neurotic.Boy.Outsider
3 We Definitely Didn't Start The Fire
4 Good News Everyone, I'm Still Technically Alive
5 My Clean Sweep At The Clown Oscars
6 If You Feel Attacked By Feminism, It's Probably A Counter-Attack
7 Shop Less, Live More
8 Kim Kelly Is My Friend
9 Scenes From A Shit Italian Restaurant
10 Memoirs Of A Dutiful Daughter

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