Artist: Dent May
Title: Do Things
Record Label: Paw Tracks
Rating: 6.0

The term “things” is pretty vague. It’s the way you summarise what you might have done at school that day or when you say you have “things” to do, it ultimately means chores and other monotonous tasks you’d rather not bother doing. So it would seem Dent May is standing on shaky ground calling his latest album ‘Do Things’. Are these “things” the grocery shop or climbing Mount Everest? Neither actually, this second LP by May is nowhere near as exhilarating as climbing to such an iconic summit and it isn’t as dull as sloping round the supermarket, it’s somewhere in-between, kind of like a pleasant walk or a nice cup of tea.

Each track is awash with machine driven drum loops, funk like guitars and incandescent synths that all burble along without much purpose. The ten tune strong record has the tendency to blend all into one and clocking in at just over thirty five minutes it seems far longer. There are some charming moments on ‘Do Things’ however, namely the lyric on ‘Rent Money’ “Don’t wanna be chasing that rent money for the rest of my life/just need somebody to hold me at night”. ‘Best Friend’ is a quaint little ode to that special pal that’s always there, for the good and bad times. What’s funny about this track is how May pronounces ‘Friend’ within the chorus, it almost sounds like someone is gradually increasing then decreasing the volume as his vocal undulates like his batteries are running low.‘Parents’ also contains a lyric we are sure a lot of us can relate to, “Dare us/We’ll do anything you will not scare us/we are gonna fight the feelings that despair us/cause we don’t wanna be just like our parents”

Dent May in his own words is “A wedding reception band on acid”, where this isn’t so, the wedding singer comparison is apt, but the substance of choice doesn’t appear to be a hallucinogenic; from Dent’s uniquely laidback vocal it sounds like he enjoys the more herbal kind of narcotic. With this in mind and the albums artwork being a lake scene with someone lounging on a Lillo, this is a record to help pass the time and forget about all the “things” you have to do.

Words and Thoughts of Adam Williams.