Dust of Days - Analog Mind Bender (2017)

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Written by Dale Butcher, posted by blog admin

Frank Lettieri’s journey to his second full length album with Dust of Days, Analog Mind Bender, is marked by personal loss, but there’s an indefatigable spirit rising up from each of its twelve songs that’s impossible to deny. The album certainly explores less than cheerful personal and social landscapes, but none of the performances are mired in despair. The band’s two guitar attack courtesy of Jim McGee and Mike Virok wield an array of guitar sounds to flesh out Lettieri’s songwriting while the rhythm section of Lettieri and bassist Scott Silvester lay down a pulverizing yet intensely musical bottom end. Engineer Nick Tveitbakk makes for an excellent creative partner and the sound of the album, recorded in only three days, rages with every bit of the visceral energy you might expect. Lettieri and the band clearly entered the studio with a clear sense of what they wanted to accomplish and Analog Mind Bender is brilliant evidence of their ability for pulling it off.

Beginning the album with its title track is a semi-audacious move. The gestation for this album, four years, is likely responsible for much of its quality, but it’s still an unusually confident sign from a band when they lead off with what often rates as an album’s defining cut. What the song does better than any one thing is setting the table for what listeners can expect from this album, but Dust of Days doesn’t reveal how many cards they’re holding. There are surprises to come. “Aurora” practically veers into metal territory, but Dust of Days is never one to go in for mindless hammering. Everything serves a purpose in these songs and the aggressive playing on this number embodies the social consciousness and rage running through the half sung/half spoken lyric. “Mustang” travels an entirely different land. This is a much more orchestrated rock track with dramatic contrasting that the band never quite overplays. Virok and McGee’s guitar playing weave together with an emphasis on volume as opposed to the guitar histrionics we hear on the album’s opening duo. There are few instances of the band opting for a classic riff approach to their performances, but “Heavy” perhaps comes closest. The grinding and slightly hypnotic quality of the riff doesn’t sound at all out of place on an album more focused on energy and dissonance and Lettieri shows a continued flexibility for adapting his voice to different musical arrangements.

“My Dear” and its follow up “The Circus” couldn’t be more different. The band’s capacity for surprise opens up here as they shift from the artful and downcast musing of “My Dear” into the blistering punk/metal attack whipped up on the latter cut. There’s certainly a much more overtly thoughtful edge on the first song, but cut through the sonic firepower of “The Circus”, focus on its lyrics, and the same intelligence looming over the first song casts the same shadows over the second tune. It’s just manifested in a radically different musical setting. “Porcelain” takes the theatrical potential heard in “My Dear” and “Mustang” a step further, condensing its intended musical effects, and exerting much more emotive power both musically and vocally. McGee and Virok’s six string work, especially, makes this number stand out. Another astonishing moment arrives with the song “The Shore”. This meditative and piano laden comes with an accompanying contributions from strings and Lettieri gives, easily, his most sensitive vocal on the album. Dust of Days doesn’t do just one or two things really well. This is a well rounded musical outfit with superior songwriting and a willingness to follow their muse wherever she might lead them. Analog Mind Bender shows that they are capable of going anywhere they want and making you believe.