Dilly Dally – Heaven
The Toronto band's second album, Heaven is a battle cry for hope in a world that's all too often darkened by the shadows of doubt, depression and loneliness
“This feels like the album we’d make if the band died and went to heaven,” explains Dilly Dally frontwoman Katie Monks of the Toronto band’s 2018 LP, and in a way that’s exactly what happened. In the time since the release of Dilly Dally’s debut album Sore, bouts of depression and a tour that served only to illuminate the dark energy that existed within the band meant the four-piece found themselves on the verge of splitting for good. However, in a fierce and fiery renaissance, Dilly Dally have managed to rise from the ashes with their new (and aptly-titled) album Heaven.
Above all, Heaven serves as a grunge-soaked and swampy survival kit for hard times, a burning, distortion-drenched reminder that – as Belinda Carlisle once told us – heaven is, indeed, a place on earth. Don’t be fooled, though. This isn’t a record of naive optimism, but instead a battle cry for hope in a world that's all too often darkened by the shadows of doubt, depression and loneliness.
Heaven’s opening track I Feel Free, ethereal and soaring in its musicality, perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the album. Performing vocal acrobatics over an untethered and anthemic soundscape, Monk's voice contorts seamlessly between pained gravel and silky smooth vulnerability as she sings, 'We’ll start it again / In a moment of silence.' Like each of the other eight explosive and grinding grunge tracks that make up Heaven, I Feel Free works to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. Despite the ferocity, there is undoubtedly uplift woven into the very fabric of each of Heaven’s blistering tracks.
Listen to: I Feel Free, Heaven