Dinosaur Bones

In 2011, Dinosaur Bones released their debut album, My Divider, which featured 11 sweetly understated rock'n'roll songs that showcased the keen pop sensibilities from the Toronto, ON band. The general consensus was that the tracks were good, but slightly lacking in depth, demonstrating promise rather than a fully realized sound. For the follow-up, Dinosaur Bones relocated to Texas to record with producer John Congleton, where they "found themselves immersed in a study of sound." They've emerged from this exploration with Shaky Dream, an undeniably, albeit somewhat subtly, more realized effort. If Dinosaur Bones' sound still doesn't feel fully formed, it's likely intentional. As the title suggests, the allure of Shaky Dream lies in its uncertainty — what isn't there, but feels like it should be. This feeling is captured in the tentative crescendos of tracks like "Don't Decide" and "So Brand New," which can't quite reach the boiling point. There's an undeniably unsteady, yet regimented frustration about the music — a sense of calculated indeterminacy. The simplistic sweetness that defined the group on their debut also remains. Ben Fox still sounds like he's singing through an early '00s Julian Casablancas-style mic filter, offering some sort of time capsule rock'n'roll sound to his delivery. The band's natural tendency toward tightly knit pop music, combined with an increasingly evident and more fully realized awareness of their strengths, makes Shaky Dream a great release.