CD Review: Goliatron and the Dazzlers - Glass Headphones

Welcome to the world of Goliatron and the Dazzlers, a "moon folk" band based in Delaware. All of the work revolves around the creative talent of Doug Cannon, a friend I met on a video game message board years ago. I was so pleased to learn how musically talented he is. Goliatron and the Dazzlers is releasing it's sophomore album

Quite a few years ago, I met a certain chap on a video game forum by the name of Blankmage. We shared a lot of similar interests, so we befriended each other through the curious way of the internet. Over time, I began to learn of his great creative talents through ambitious video game projects and musical explorations. It has been a year since I was introduced to his wonderful band called Goliatron and the Dazzlers.

Goliatron and the Dazzlers is a "moon folk" band, combining elements of folk rock and spacey music, and they are releasing their sophomore album, Glass Headphones, this month. This release is going to be free for the public very much like their first album, Constructive Therapy for the Destructive Mind. It will be available on P2P networks such as Bit Torrent.

Glass Headphones takes a departure from the more experimental Constructive Therapy. The album has a greater focus on folk elements with songs like "Running Sheep" and "Names and Faces". All of the songs are supposed to be dreamy in a certain way. Doug explains that "Glass Headphones stands for, essentially a security. The song, though simple, deals with the fragile nature of inner peace in today's world and how we seek inner peace more than we seek peace amongst each other." Though he is only describing the title track of the album here, the idea unquestionably represents the whole of the album.

The first song of the album, "Blowaway", begins with many beautiful layers of prancing acoustic guitars while Doug sings lighty, "Why don't you blow me away?" in repetition. The song then transitions into a dark, yet peaceful electric guitar with Doug musing about his own growth as an individual and how some people are rebelling against the changes within himself. The song is a little drawn out from a first-listener's perspective, but the song is really well-structured, making for a strong opener on this whimsical album.

"Running Sheep" reminds me of a mix of Radiohead's "Creep" and "(Nice Dream)", and not so much in a way that this song sounds like an unoriginal clone, but in a way that this song is really that good. The song includes some ominous, spacial noises and synthesizer that add a lot to the chorus. The next track "Beauty Lost Blues" is a very different song from "Running Sheep". Doug sings an octave lower in a very bluesy style similar to that of Tom Waits. The guitar strumming is very simple, but the stylish vocals make the song whole.

"Lullaby" is a very pretty song with a subtle cloud of darkness attributed to it. In the lyrics, it's quite obvious Doug is singing to someone he is not impressed with. Nearly half way into the song, the chords start sounding a bit darker, glomier, and he sings "Wake up // See your reflection in the window // Your eyelids reveal it too // Narcissism complexity patriots".

My favorite song on the entire album is "Names and Faces", and it has been since Goliatron released it on their Myspace. The vocals on the verses are reminiscent to that of Sweden's Emil Svanängen from the band Loney, Dear. The chorus is the most powerful part of the song with mysterious guitar chords and Doug singing in a dark voice, "Hasn’t anyone told you my name? // Born from a black hole, guess I had bad aim. // Medics, Clerics, leaders turn from your fear."

The instrumental, spacey "Traveler's Whistle" follows as a prelude to "Autumn Day", a slow folk song. It has a nice sound to it, but I never grew attached to this one as much as the other ones. The following track "Enacirruh" is another slow folk song, but it has catchier guitar hooks with meandering vocals.

"Brainstorm" brings in some Latin-style guitar for a very long, drawn-out intro. The notation is very well-done, but I wished it wasn't so long. Perhaps it was a way to build up the suspense of the creepy whispers two minutes in. About three minutes in, the song brings in a very cool chord progression with hammering electric guitar in the background. I dig this song, but the beginning could be tweaked a little bit.

The final and title track "Glass Headphones" reminds me of medieval music, something that a choir would sing in that time period. For that, I really like this song. The beginning has a few guitar strumming, but as it progresses, it brings in some nice overlaying chords that bring a better, fuller sound. Doug also does some multi-layering and echoing vocals that give an ethereal sound.

All in all, I am very impressed with this album. For such a young man to produce a full, quality album like this is really impressive. I'm going to rate this 7 out of 10. It's very good for the most part, but there are a few shortcomings here and there. Nevertheless, I definitely look forward to future material from Goliatron and the Dazzlers. If you haven't checked them out already, go here.

You can download the full album of Glass Headphones here, free and legally. If there are any problems with the download, please feel free to email or comment me.