Statistics - Leave Your Name

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 3 / 3 / 2004

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Review

Statistics is the solo project of Denver Dalley, the guitarist and co-songwriter in the fabulous Desaparecidos, who also feature members of The Good Life, Cursive and most notoriously, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fame. Though Denver Dalley is therefore a prominent luminary of the Omaha scene, he has chosen Jade Tree to release this music, rather than Omaha’s ‘local’ label Saddle Creek. He claims this is because his two favourite labels are Jade Tree and Saddle Creek, so it is nice to record for both. Fair enough, few get to be that lucky! Musically, recording for Jade Tree makes perfect sense; this is an album that has as much in common with the post-emo/art rock camp as it does the quirky Omaha scene. It’s a very short album, barely half an hour long, but so many ideas are explored in that time that you imagine to be almost twice as long. At times, it is in the abstract, dreamy post rock camp – somebody’s been listening to Sigur Ros. At other times it flirts though with 80's pop and electronica, while at others still it is firmly set in the lo-fi art rock camp, or goes for all out pop-punk. The sheer variety is outstanding, and there’s something here for most indie-rockers. Statistics are comparable to bands like latter day Elliott, 'Low Level Owl' period Appleseed Cast, the Gloria Record and Logh. Dalley's style couldn’t be more different from the introspective laments of Conor Oberst, and one senses that these two fantastic talents pulling together are what made the Desaparecidos one of the most exciting prospects in years. I wish they would both realise that they make their best music as a unit. What Conor Oberst’s music sometimes lacks is the sonic adventurousness displayed here, and the one thing this album lacks is truly classic songwriting to tie it all together. Having said that, Denver Dalley is – like Oberst – so very, very talented that this is still one of the best albums of the year so far.

Track Listing:-

1 Sing A Song
2 Leave Your Name
3 The Grass Is Always Greener
4 Mr. Nathan
5 Accomplishment
6 Hours Seemed Like Days
7 Chairman of the Bored
8 2 A.M.
9 A Number, Not A Name
10 Reminisce
11 Circular Memories