{"id":3398,"date":"2011-08-16T01:29:11","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T08:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3398"},"modified":"2011-08-16T01:29:11","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T08:29:11","slug":"the-dears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/the-dears\/","title":{"rendered":"THE DEARS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

THE DEARS<\/h1>\n

Welcoming new voices and familiar spirits into a house built on constant change<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Over the last three years,\u00a0no fewer than 15 people have had the privilege of calling themselves Dears. Of the four musicians who joined founding frontman Murray Lightburn and longtime keyboardist Natalia Yanchak in recording the band\u2019s fifth album, Degeneration Street<\/em>, three are on their third stints as Dears. For their loyal service, they earned a privilege none of Lightburn\u2019s numerous previous sidemen have enjoyed: a chance to share in the songwriting. \u201cThe people who are in the band right now are the people I trust the most,\u201d Lightburn says. \u201cCreatively, there were no rules. We had moments where an email would come in to me and be like, \u2018I bashed out this demo\u2014check it out.\u2019 The next thing you know it turns into a back-and-forth\u00a0and a song is born.\u201d<\/p>\n

After playing with the Dears at various points in the early \u201900s, bassist Roberto Arquilla and guitarists Patrick Krief and Rob Benvie returned during the making of 2008\u2019s Missiles<\/em>, replacing three of the five members who quit before the album was completed. The threesome opted out of the seven-member lineup that toured behind Missiles<\/em>, but when it came time to record the follow-up, all three reenlisted. Once drummer Jeff Luciani came onboard, the musicians began swapping ideas for new songs. \u201cWe have a system in place for every song,\u201d Lightburn says. \u201cThere\u2019s a captain, and maybe a co-captain, and then\u00a0there are the contributors.\u201d<\/p>\n

That process led the Dears to Degeneration Street<\/em>, which occupies a diverse stretch of sonic real estate. Alongside jangling chords and glossy arena riffs, the album\u2019s orchestral flourishes\u2014piano, strings and harpsichord\u2014carry the tracks down dark alleys and into unexpected places. Lightburn\u2019s vocal delivery reveals an intense personal connection with the lyrics\u2014even on \u201cEasy Suffering,\u201d a song whose words were largely written by Krief, he finds his own emotional footing. \u201cI have no idea what his intention was,\u201d Lightburn admits, \u201cbut when I sing it, I\u2019m thinking about something in particular that breaks me up every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lightburn insists Degeneration Street <\/em>maintains the distinctive voice of past Dears releases. \u201cIt sounds really pretentious and kind of lame, but I believe there\u2019s a spirit that inhabits the house of the Dears,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you walk in, you\u2019re willingly letting that spirit\u2014whatever it is\u2014inhabit you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Kenneth Partridge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE DEARS Welcoming new voices and familiar spirits into a house built on constant change Over the last three years,\u00a0no fewer than 15 people have had the privilege of calling themselves Dears. Of the four musicians who joined founding frontman Murray Lightburn and longtime keyboardist Natalia Yanchak in recording the band\u2019s fifth album, Degeneration Street, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[1059,10156,2395],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3400,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398\/revisions\/3400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}