In 2004, St. Louis’s So Many Dynamos released their debut full length, "When I Explode." It was not an Arcade Fire/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah indie rock breakout success story. It didn’t catapult the band onto the front of magazine covers or land them backstage snorting lines off of Jack White’s Grammy. It did however, do what debut full lengths should do for young bands from moderately ignored towns on small labels; it exposed the band to those willing to listen, received nods from Spin Magazine ... (more)
In 2004, St. Louis’s So Many Dynamos released their debut full length, "When I Explode." It was not an Arcade Fire/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah indie rock breakout success story. It didn’t catapult the band onto the front of magazine covers or land them backstage snorting lines off of Jack White’s Grammy. It did however, do what debut full lengths should do for young bands from moderately ignored towns on small labels; it exposed the band to those willing to listen, received nods from Spin Magazine and Entertainment Weekly among others, and acted as the hypothetical fuel (read: cheaper than real fuel) to carry a GMC Vandura across over 30 states for over 200 shows. Now So Many Dynamos return with "Flashlights", their second full length for Seattle’s Skrocki Records.
"Flashlights" is the sophomore record that young bands from moderately ignored towns on small labels are supposed to make; it expands on their debut in every aspect. The band’s unique brand of chaotic pop has been sharpened, refined. The songs are catchier, noisier, dancier, smarter, often weaving in and out, Frogger-style, between anthematic choruses and epileptic freakouts. The band has also learned how the recording studio works, harnessing the urgency of their live performances into ones and zeroes and throwing some unexpected instruments into the fold (4 piece horn section, 30 piece choir, toy accordion, banjo, thumb piano, etc.)
Calculated in conception and dead on in execution, So Many Dynamos is a band intent on not half-assing anything. They will continue to remind you that "infect" is the base word of "infectious". And perhaps, in the right time at the right place, if you allow yourself, they will crawl beneath your skin and force you to itch yourself into a dance you didn’t know you knew the moves to.
