Dexateens reviewed
Singlewide
(Skybucket)
Southern music frequently treats poverty with a kind of patriotism, framing hardship as a speedbump on the way to better things or a loving sacrifice for children, etc. When it’s not, it’s a stock reason for getting drunk. Spurred on by their fans in Drive-By Truckers, Dexateens mix in some Stonesy rock to get a less-appealing point across: Being poor sucks.
Their just-released Singlewide doesn’t labor the point because the album’s sound does it well enough: outcasts who want to drop acid a la Meat Puppets and do a one-off re-record of Exile On Main Street, but the guy delivering the hits ran off with the cash. This third set of songs drops the cheap-booze ’70s stadium rock of their first two records, ratcheting as far down as the banjo on some entries. A perpetual overcast fuels their angst, however, as even the semi-upbeat title track seems to wish it were born in brighter circumstances.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “Neil Armstrong” from 2007’s Hardwire Healing.
