Being present on the Norwegian scene for more than 20 years now, and with Reefy Seadragon being their first release in several years, Dog Age make their come back an international one, becoming a part of the esteemed Rainbow Quartz roster of bands.
Rarely letting themselves out of the two year time gap between ’66 and ’67, they still manage to create quite a kaleidoscopic soundascape, while recycling the legacy of mostly The Beatles and Syd Barrett, in a kind of a moody and quite original way, with the closest contemporary references being their native soul mates, Dipsomaniacs (not to be confused with the American band of the same name!), with their 12-strings here being replaced by sitars, and to a bit lesser extent, the American pair of Cotton Mather and The Rooks.
The more than occasional presence of sitars, as well as an Eastern-tinged melody or two, might bring to mind George Harrison as a kind of a guiding-star, though it’s more Lennon at his most dreamy psychedelicately melodic, that you will hear from songs such as The American Line, What You Were On, God Lives Under The River or Get Out, He Sun Is Shining.
When they do get somewhat quirkier, it’s the Syd-era Floyd that instantly comes to mind (Bongsong, When I Was A Young Boy), and there’s also a pair of examples (Spanish Peasants, Tea, And A Wife) suggesting what Syd might’ve sounded like had he been able to pay just a bit more attention during his solo albums.
While the most conventionally pop they get is with Jesse Brown and Mystical George, with enough of the slightlydelic flavour not to make them out of place, which doesn’t happen to be the case with the slightly jazzy instrumental The Puppeteer, with it’s too synthetic background.
All the above considered, Dog Age provide us with quite an enjoyable trip through the psychedelic haze of late sixties pop, in a more genuine British way than most of the actual Brits would’ve been able to do.
[Released by Rainbow Quartz 2006]
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