Charlie Dold - "Sins on My Shoulders" 7"

Charlie Dold – “Sins on My Shoulders”

Bus Stop, 1991
Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008

Price: $.25

 

I think the tribal-art looking iguana on the cover of this 7” is what made me think Dold was Australian. That’s gotta be it. I like this record a lot more than the “Any Poet’s Dream” 7”. Well, “Sins on My Shoulders” is the best of the lot. The two tracks on the B-side grate a bit. The songs aren’t really any shorter, but the melodies remind me less of cheesy 80s pop. It’s an artifact from a weird era. The year of Nevermind, and here you have this dude from a Midwestern college town churning out these lo-fi poppy indie rock tunes that are kind of stuck between stations. I feel like kids today are trying to replicate the sound these songs have when at the time this was probably the best Mr. Dold could do. It’s a great sound. It sounds raw and a little disorderly but that’s what gives the songs their soul. Nowadays you record your song on your Macbook and dub it to tape to try to make it sound shitty. I think I read something about tape labels today. I must have. Every time I do I unconsciously go to this place where I just can’t understand why, and then I wonder if tapes possess the same sort of affectation as records. Or wanting to create something physical and analog because pressing to vinyl is expensive. Anyway, off topic because I don’t know what else to say about Mr. Dold.