Between Two Horse Pikes – Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares – Volume 1
Between Two Horse Pikes – Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares – Volume 1 – Album Review
I tell ya…sometimes it’s true, absence makes the heart grow fonder. It hasn’t even really been that long since we last had Between Two Horse Pikes on these pages of ours…it was only about a year & a half ago and we have certainly endured longer absences in the course of our history. That being said, I dunno – sometimes you hear music that resonates with you in such a way that it feels like it’s been far too long since you last had a listen, and I’d say this was one of those times for me. So while the title of this album might try to convince you that Nobody Cares, I can assure you that’s not the case. I’m living proof! I care! Better one than none, right? Don’t musicians & artists always try to convince us that if they could just make an impact on one person, that it justifies their entire existence, and makes it all worthwhile? Between Two Horse Pikes had me listening way back when, and I dig what I hear in this new album now.
Heck yeah! Lean and mean. The opening of Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares – Volume 1 sounds damn near dangerous for a second or two there as it clicks into gear with its opening track, “Folded.” I remember this band to be a champion of texture in the past, and that’s one of my favorite things about this first impression of the new album…a song like “Folded” is practically designed in sonic 3D, you know what I mean? Excellent definition to be found here in the music & instrumentation…from the grittiness of the guitars, to the crisp snap of the snare, to the well-rounded sound of the bass, Between Two Horse Pikes come leaping outta the gate in full stride with “Folded,” reminding me just how much I dig this band. The vocals…are freakin’ sensational y’all. I dig what I’m hearing in the verses well enough, but the way things get leveled up even further for the chorus, sounds absolutely fantastic. I think, if I’m not mistaken, “Folded” is probably the shortest track on the record too, yes? I’ll have to fact-check myself later on down the road, but believe me when I tell ya, things will get lengthy as this album progresses. In any event, “Folded” starts the album out with a bright melodic energy that’s juxtaposed with several ingredients that do their damnedest to dirty things up. You can’t fool me though – “Folded” comes out sounding pretty clean & clear overall, and starts the album out with a real highlight in the chorus vocals.
“Paula, Paula” has gotta be better than “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,” right? Two Paulas beats three Marcias, yes? All kidding aside, let’s be real here – Between Two Horse Pikes is no stranger to gettin’ weird with it, and you’ll find this second song is a perfect example of that. Interesting, for sure…built for the masses, probably not…unique, definitely. It might be a bit of a risk to have “Paula, Paula” appear so early on in the lineup…it’s kind of like an audible line in the sand that dares you to cross if you wanna keep on listening to the rest, but at least you can say that Between Two Horse Pikes was upfront about its intentions. “It may all be for naught” – and I suspect that might be correct in terms of the efforts being made…this track might end up flying right over most of the heads listening out there – time will tell. I mean, don’t get me wrong – Michael Stipe is one of my all-time favorite singers, and that dude is slightly off here & there all the freakin’ time when it comes to his tone if he’s not being too careful – so I don’t really mind what we’ve got here on “Paula, Paula” – but I might be more of the exception than the rule I guess. For the rest of the folks out there tuning in, when the intensity of this track ramps up, those vocals start to wander and color well outside of the lines in a jarring way…to the point where it could end up audibly challenging a lot of listeners. The song itself has merit – all I’m saying is that there’s risk in having this song so far up in the lineup when you’re trying to give everyone the incentive to keep on listening. I love how you’ll find all kinds of vocal samples floating throughout the ending of this cut.
“Prayer For Perspective” brings things back to a compromise that works, where Between Two Horse Pikes is still able to do exactly as it wants to do, while finding its way back to a more widely accessible sound that the average everyday listener still has a chance of hanging with. It’s lengthy at nearly six minutes long and moves like a horse trots to continue with the equestrian references, but I think that there’s enough here to get the support of the people at the end of the day. It’s got a slow & steady build to it that I personally found interesting – though I’ll admit, Between Two Horse Pikes really ends up having you believe there’s some kind of monumental explosion about to detonate around the four minute mark, but instead it continues to break down “Prayer For Perspective” and let the song seem to organically disintegrate. You’ll find a bit of juice and a spark within its final twenty seconds or so, but it’s probably not the wildfire you felt it might have been building towards. Instead, I’d reckon you could call this cut one of the album’s more reliable tunes…damn near unexpectedly straightforward to a degree! In a way though, you might find that the beginning of this record is slightly less consequential than how it ends…like, there’s really nothing wrong with cuts like “Folded” or “Prayer For Perspective” when it comes right down to it, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t feel like the real fireworks on this album don’t come in later on in the second half. I really love the attention to detail here though – listen to spots like what happens around the 3:30 mark on “Prayer For Perspective” for example – that’s just freakin’ cool to listen to, and it’s a really unique moment in this particular song. Sometimes the right fragment of a tune can be all the reason you need to come back & check it out again, and there’s loads of those moments scattered all throughout the course of this set-list. Solid vocals on this cut, great guitars…I dig this track; it’s got low-key energy to it, but I feel like it’s one of those cuts that really grows on you with each spin.
The enticing sound of the production plays a significant role on this album. If you’re one of those folks that really enjoys how things are recorded & such, you’ll find tracks like “Five Mile Dagger” to be among your favorites I’m sure. This track takes the sound of Between Two Horse Pikes closer to something you might find on a record by Failure, which makes a heck of a lot of sense, because their band-leader Ken Andrews also knows how to use production techniques, texture, and tone to his advantage as well. Plus I think you get a bit of a noticeably darker melody at work on “Five Mile Dagger” – some of it seems like it’s a bit on the deviant side, and wanders away from its ideal sound at points, which is something else you’d likely feel both bands have in common if you’re familiar with’em – but it still works for me. In any event, the sound separation within the production is freakishly good, and the ideas at the core of a track like this were highly intriguing. It’s mysterious, curious, and executed with commitment & confidence – all of those ingredients really can’t help but stack up into a song that’s got some real meat on its bones, you know? There’s a lot that I enjoy about this album’s first four tracks, but I’d be the first to admit that it’s the final seven in the set that get me most excited about this album by Between Two Horse Pikes. So in a way, we’re still getting warmed up here y’all – but things are about to get absolutely frickin’ deadly.
You’ll also find that “Five Mile Dagger” leads directly into “Commit Suicide” afterwards, almost like it proudly wanders into the space of the next song and owns a solid minute of it before you can hear where the break kind of occurs and provides the opportunity for Between Two Horse Pikes to shift into this second part of what feels like one big ol’ song really. I’m freakin’ here for it though – I felt like this was a really strong portion of the record with what you’ll find shared between the linked tracks of four & five together. Do I expect everyone out there to feel the same way I do about this? Fuck no! Do I wish I lived in a world where everyone agreed with me all the time? Honestly, fuck no to that as well – but in instances like this, it might be nice. Bands like Between Two Horse Pikes undoubtedly represent the artistic underdog & the sheer dankness of the underground scene at the very same time – and I’d say you probably have to have a fairly open mind to be able to consume music like this. Like, take what’s happening as you head into the fifth minute of this song for example, where Between Two Horse Pikes is just one pile of vomit away from becoming the Jesus Lizard. To me, that’s 100% awesomeness – and even though I’d probably tell ya a track like “Commit Suicide” has more melody to it, it moves in a similarly desolate-but-bold way to music like the Jesus Lizard often put out…think somewhere along the lines of “Zachariah” for reference. This is also where you’ll the density of this material start to plunge in even deeper, and tracks really start to flex their hybrid structures and serious length. Once again, you’ll find major highlight moments, like when things take a major turn and Between Two Horse Pikes starts to scream at ya around the 5:15 mark, somewhat straight out of the blue. It’s a glorious moment, indeed.
When you get to a song like “47 Pins,” that heads into a much lighter, atmospherically inclined sound, you have to appreciate the wide degree of contrast that’s been created throughout Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares Volume 1. Between Two Horse Pikes clearly isn’t afraid to commit and take things all the way in whichever direction it feels inclined to roam, and I really dig that. I’d be willing to bet that at least a few of you out there will feel like you could even make a valid comparison of “47 Pins” to something like Pink Floyd, be it the Syd Barrett era or otherwise…I think I could make a case for both based on what I hear in this song, yet it’s still none of either really. There’s a wonderfully mysterious melody at the core of this idea that works brilliantly, and it keeps a track like this relentlessly engaging – which is no small accomplishment when we’re talkin’ about seven minute-long songs, you feel me? The real melodic payload comes in for the finale in the last minute or so…and I suppose if anything, you could argue that Between Two Horse Pikes could have certainly doled us out a bit more of that angelic hook rather than being so damn stingy with it! I know my role here as a listener though…I’ll take what I can get – I’m greedy AF, but I know I can push repeat and still get my fix that way too when it’s required. There’s a calmness to a lot of what you’ll hear in “47 Pins” that adds a bit of much needed reprieve for the average everyday listeners out there after an experience like what they just went through with “Commit Suicide” beforehand…but to be truthful, albums like these aren’t really designed for most folk. This is for the freaks and geeks, the music-heads & musicians out there…and we deserve a treat like this!
Meaty tunes here y’all…Between Two Horse Pikes ain’t messing around – most of these tracks are quite extensive in length, like “Iced Tea,” which expands to nearly eight minutes. There’s a difference though; when you’re out there as a band and your sole intentions are to find your way onto the radio, that’s a whole different mission than being a band like Between Two Horse Pikes, where the music is being made completely for the love of the game. As a result, you’ll find that there’s nothing contrived, nothing pretentious, and no bullshit – you get audible art, take it or leave it, for better or worse. If you’re asking me personally if I need another sing-along song in this world we’re living in, or something that might make me think & get the hamster movin’ on the wheel that turns my brain, I’m going with the latter for the most part. So do I like something like “Iced Tea,” you ask? No, I reply. I fucking LOVE IT. This is like the oxygen I need in my lungs…the creativity that keeps me going…the fuel to my fire & such – “Iced Tea” is bloody brilliant, and I felt like that was apparent from its first ticking seconds. A desolate and grim Spoken Word tale, with music that will melt your face alongside it…no joke folks, this is award-worthy stuff right here. Somewhere in the realm where Shoegaze meets Metal, you’ll find a track like “Iced Tea” thriving hard and making its impact on listeners. I love that rather than relegate something like this to being just a couple minute intro-type of tune, Between Two Horse Pikes makes this become a serious statement song on Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares Volume 1, and dares, if not outright threatens, listening ears to really open up their pores in order to accept a full blast of true art.
Scaling back the next tune to a mere 7:21, “Creating Parallels” comes through your speakers like it’s a molten comet screaming outta the sky as it begins, then spreads out into a gritty dose of serenity and melody combined. This track reminded me a lot of what I got out of the early records from Mogwai and the raw power they could display at a moment’s notice. Could be at their loudest, could be at their quietest…it didn’t matter which way they chose to turn, because the understanding of the power of dynamics would leave you in fucking AWE – and that’s the way I felt whenever I’d listen to “Creating Parallels.” Similar to Mogwai when it comes to the vocals as well – I could take’em or leave’em – they’re not the selling feature for me, but I generally don’t mind their inclusion…it’s just not what would make or break a track like “Creating Parallels” to me. Everything I want outta this song is right there in the music itself, beaming outta my speakers like broken particles determined to stab & permeate my DNA forever. It’s rare that you can go through two tracks back-to-back on any album where they’ll total something crazy like fifteen some-odd minutes and come out feeling as enthusiastic as I do about the appearance of “Iced Tea” and “Creating Parallels” together on this record. There are simply too many highlights to recount here…if I was to list everything I loved about this one song, we’d be here all week. The guitar work on this track is absolutely mind-blowing…which to be fair, has been somewhat of a real staple throughout this whole record and its most dependable element overall in my opinion – but even in knowing that, it still felt like the stakes were raised here even further on “Creating Parallels.” What I think ended up surprising me the most were the bass lines towards the end of this song. A lot of the tunes on this record don’t really end up giving the bass too much of a role other than being the backbone of the rhythm section, which does allow the guitar to do whatever the heck it wants to do (and thank you for your service in that regard bass!) – so it was awesome to hear the low-end really flex some muscle and liven up with a more involved part as “Creating Parallels” surged right into its finale.
So look…you’d probably have to be downright superhuman to outdo what has been done over the course of those last two tunes, and I just don’t feel like it’d be right to expect anyone out there could continue to re-up on what has been accomplished with “Iced Tea” and “Creating Parallels” back-to-back. Like, I knew right away that “Iced Tea” was gonna be my favorite cut of the bunch immediately – and if anything, credit where credit is due, “Creating Parallels” surprised the shit outta me by how much it tried to take that top spot and rival what I loved about the track before it. To do that three times in a row, with such extraordinary efforts being put in, would have been a massive accomplishment that the world has practically never seen…so it wasn’t something I felt myself expecting. Between Two Horse Pikes played this next spot on the record perfectly, dialing back most of the energy into one of the sweetest doses of melody you’ll find on the album throughout “Parkinson’s Disease” – that was the right call to make. This is where the art of making a record is really on display…the understanding of the ebb & flow of an album…it’s not all about having good tunes and bad tunes, so much as it’s about knowing where to flex the dynamics of your sound in the right way so that we NOTICE each track. More often than not, I run into songs on albums that are SO GOOD, they basically obliterate whatever comes next, because they’re still trying to do more of what they thought was working in a very similar way. You listen to a track like “Parkinson’s Disease” and it’s a breath of fresh air in the lineup…an audible reset of sorts…a cut that doesn’t try to be at all like what came before it, and instead heads in a completely different direction of its own. That was freakin’ wise y’all…and I really hope some of you out there are taking notes. “Parkinson’s Disease” brings something specifically different to this entire lineup, and that’s where it excels. I’m not here to tell ya that “Parkinson’s Disease” is the track of all tracks on this record, because that’s not how I feel about it, and yes, both “Iced Tea” & “Creating Parallels” are still the absolute highlights for me on a personal level – BUT…I really appreciate how Between Two Horse Pikes has designed the flow of this record so that there are no songs or moments that don’t get our attention.
It’s equally impressive when you consider the fact that most of these songs don’t have anything you’d consider to be typical hooks – usually albums like that can slide right under the radar & the songs don’t feel like something you’ll remember over time. To be fair, you might still have a harder time remembering which song is which until you’re much more familiar with this album, but I can guarantee you that you’ll remember Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares Volume 1 overall. Not too many albums out there that you’ll find to be as ambitious as this one is, where you’ve got eleven tracks that are wildly entertaining in an extreme variety of ways, and each cut in the set is practically seven minutes or more. Some of this stuff is cleverly strung together, like “Planet Tobacco” for example, which is essentially two songs combined into one experience. No harm in that as far as I can tell. Does one half go with the other? I’m gonna leave that up to YOU to decide…the ol’ court of public opinion will render its verdict as it always does – but I will tell ya that, again, in terms of how dynamics work, one half wouldn’t be nearly as impactful without the other being included along with it. Of the two halves, I’m probably going with the first half here – I love the sincerity you’ll find in the vocals & lyrics, and I think it flows spectacularly well from where you just left off in the track before into the dreamy side of sound you experience as “Planet Tobacco” begins. Hang tight though, because Between Two Horse Pikes loads up that second half of this tune with a whole lot of its signature weirdness, mayhem and madness, loud & proud for ya. Controlled enough for the most part, but that last minute or so will get pretty damn wild to listen to.
Bringing up the average song length for the final track, “A Song Called Try” is pretty much its own EP at 11:38 – so buckle the fuck up chuckleheads, this album ain’t for the faint of heart. Get yourself a coffee and have yourself a sit – you might have reached the end of Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares Volume 1, but it’s still far from over, you feel me? Alright…so…objective observations and all…do we NEED the first ninety seconds of “A Song Called Try?” Probably not! Is there much of a difference between a ten minute long song and one that’s eleven & a half minutes? Likely about the same difference as a review that’s five pages instead of six I’d reckon! *winky face* Anyhow. Once you’re into the main meat of this song, it starts gliding along pretty smoothly from there, and you likely won’t really feel the effects of its length or feel yourself getting restless. I dunno…maybe some of you might, if you’re the fidgety type I suppose, but to me, “A Song Called Try” had a real hypnotic and meditative vibe to it that felt easy to get lost within in all the right ways. It’s got a peacefulness to it…and I appreciated that. I also liked how when Between Two Horse Pikes sprinkled in some energy, it felt appropriate and tasteful, you know? Like a logical progression from where things started to where they go…everything made sense to my ears as I listened to this final tune, and it really seemed like a case of everything being in its right place, even me being here to listen to this record, right here, right now. Love the distance in the vocals, love the pace, love the mesmerizing trance this last cut locks you into…and surprisingly, for a song that’s waaaaaaay longer than most attention spans are out there today, I felt like I never wanted this to end.
Dome Sweet Dome/Nobody Cares Volume 1 gets its official release this January 3rd, 2025 – until then, find out more about Between Two Horse Pikes at the official website here: https://b2hp.com
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