Polyvinyl
do you love the color of the sky? is Dummy's, the Los Angeles based band's, third studio album. It was lead by three singles: lead single "Full Spectrum Dominance", double-header "April Limousine/Alluvial Fan" and "N of 1". The album was produced, recorded and mixed by Dummy - notdummy on social media - and Joo-Joo Ashworth.
do you love the color of the sky? opens on "April Limousine". A loose template is set: Bone-dry, Drum-and-Bass-y, Baggy patterns meet synths that swirl inside of themselves. An air reminiscent of Outsider House is huffed in-and-out. Finely diced vocal snippets flavour the sound palette - akin to a Bicep, for point of reference. The vocals - which are shared between Emma Maatman and Nathan O'Dell - have this melancholically sweet, semi-detached air to them. Beach House's - Victoria Legrand's - subtle grandiosity comes through in Maatman's vocals, as well as Doug Martsch's more twee, drawn-out drawl - the mixture is most apparent and clear on penultimate track "N of 1".
The star of the show is the bubbly, lush - as far as I can make out - synths that froth up and, from time-to-time, spill over. Ever-lush. Fertile soundworlds. Plump sonics. Rigorous, yet thoughtful. Not satisfied 'til you're idolized. Not now. Not ever. A shell until then. Incomplete. A whistle of empty tune. Does music ever make time stand still? Unconscious operation remains in spin, but things in your control seize up. Frozen in sound; soul-gripped. Mercurial. Ambered. Crystallized. Life, emphasized. Sharpened to a point of potential puncture.
Robust beats and dreamy soundworlds. Vocals, chopped-up and ghostly, adorn the atmospheric breeze that sweeps through "Squeaky Wheel". Gorgeous refrains of: ‘Our flesh will die, but we'll linger in life
Does it hurt to hurt a fly?' marinate the mix and add a philosophical feel, nicely.
Ruminating chimes manifest inside "Song of Mana". Mind-spheres yet to be fully understood and explored. Background processes which run the show. Brain fog. Clarity unclear. Better days are to be had. A mouth filled with melancholy. If only.
Quivering synths lace "Omen Globe". Strobe-light-like. Wavey as a wet dog. Brighteningly sheen and simultaneously sandpaper.
"C.B.B.S.I.M.M.P.W.M": 1'38" of Xtal-y, breath-y beauty; there's an air of Sigur Ros to it. It leads lovingly into what I consider to be the artistic peak of the album, "N of 1". It's a track which maximises all of the elements that the album harnesses so well.
'Just like a spider in a web of wire
you must grow tired'
It feels like a monumental moment. A happy-sad burst of momentary bliss. One of the best songs that 2026 will see.
The album is seen out on beautifully layered vocals and a whoozing bassline with "Heaven's What You Make Of It". The hazey nature of the soundworld within makes it sort of drift out of view, cloud-like.
'Something elemental has it's grip on me
Pulling me into the blue'
What a time to be alive.
