Dye It Blonde

The Chicago quartet’s confident start

One can only wonder how confidently, if not audaciously, the young rockers Smith Westerns from Chicago made their way to the big audience. Their self-titled debut long player saw the light of day in 2009 to gather solely praiseful responses. It was a living miracle how these inexperienced men managed to create such an elegant record. Sharing a profound fondness for the old-school rock, the participants of Smith Westerns deliberately lowered the quality of the sounding to make the record echo the times long gone and badly missed. The lo-fi method is no big surprise today as it is certainly a widespread tool applied by many contemporary performers. However, this time, this trick worked out perfectly because it accompanied top level music and lyrical content. Listeners enjoyed this record, which brought them rock in its original form, sincere, unpredictable and forever young. Before this talented quartet released their second studio effort, only few doubted that the band would offer what they had already done, because this would be the most reasonable and efficient move. Despite the public’s thoughts, Smith Westerns knew better what they had to do. They did Dye It Blonde.

Cleaner sound, better music

Dye It Blonde is not just record number two from Smith Westerns, released in 2011. It is a standout effort that will overshadow even the highlights of its glorious predecessor. No, it is not an album that undermines all the initiatives forwarded by the musicians two years ago. This is rather a huge step ahead, without wasting time and efforts. Smith Westerns did not make a copy of their debut long player, but borrowed from it what makes the essence of their music. Dye It Blonde has the same emotional power, original touch and stylistic variety. But it sounds much better, more up to date. The sounding is simply cleaner, but not polished flawless, because this would make it unnatural. The opening part of the album includes thee amazing songs, vernal and light Weekend, desperate and explosive Imagine Pt. 3, and head-spinning All Die Young. Compared to the first CD of the band, this record shows that the preferences of Smith Westerns have got a bit ‘younger’. They expose a great influence by the Brit-pop of the early nineties. You can sense it particularly acutely in an exquisite song called Smile.

Play it while you’re young

Dye It Blonde is a task accomplished brilliantly. The musicians have grown professionally and yet lost not a single bit of their inspiration and enthusiasm. Smith Westerns made a beautiful and masterful transition to a higher level as they developed logically those ideas laid out two years ago. They changed the form a little bit, they adjusted the means of expression, but the message and content remained intact. Smith Westerns are all about energy. It is about inability to hold it anymore, reluctance to control it, to suppress it. The musicians left a great part of their selves in this album. These ten songs are mirrors of young souls. Each chorus here is an explosion of emotions accompanied by the vocalist’s yell, the guitar’s scream, the drum kit’s madness and the bass’ thunder. This energy, the one that is behind the evolution of music life, overwhelms the musicians of Smith Westerns, and they are eager to share it with you. It is not advisable to expect from them a record like this twenty years later. But now is the time to enjoy the moment, to celebrate their youth and desire to play this music.