Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak will be the first to admit that the road from Gang of Losers to the Times Infinity series has been anything but smooth, but was the right direction for the Dears. Age, time, and family may be softening Lightburn’s heart, but it’s tightened his songwriting both “Of Fisticuffs” and Side A closer “1998” are destined to go down as classics in Dears’ history. “Of Fisticuffs” is by far the funkiest Dears song since ever. “All The Hail Marys” follows a similar pattern, this time a solemn organ alongside Lightburn’s singing that crescendos into hymn-like invocations. “Taking It to the Grave” opens with sparse instrumentation to accompany Yanchak’s vocals before erupting into a delightful and unexpected full-blown band arrangement (imagine how a medley of Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place” and “Airbag” would sound). Before you get to the sombre soulfulness of “Until Deathrow” and “I Love You Times Infinity”, Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak treat listeners to an opening triumvirate of songs to rival any in their canon. Times Infinity Volume Two (recorded at the same time as 2015’s Time Infinity Volume One) is described as the darker of the two records in the series, informed by a foreboding sense of unease, particularly during the album’s more meditative last half. Listening to a new Dears record all these years later still sounds like settling in to catch up with old friends. Though they never lost their penchant for sweeping, grandiose musical statements, emotionally and lyrically, the Dears were veering towards more cerebral, internalized songs, the kind that connected with the misfits and the geeks, like me. Even in 2006, Gang of Losers sounded like a decision-making moment-the Dears had come to a junction in the road and had to choose a path forward. Where 2003’s No Cities Left entertained me, Gang of Losers indoctrinated me as a lifelong Dears fan. I started writing this post ten months ago, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dears’ Gang of Losers, a record that has always felt like a mirror, or more accurately, a kind of x-ray machine reflecting back to me the person I feel I am on the inside.
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