Make no mistake -- this is still the sound of your loved one's heart breaking. But this time around, Dolorean has packaged that sound within a more focused, more mature, and far more dynamic collection of songs. Alex James and company haven't stolen the drummer's brushes, but on Violence in the Snowy Fields, they do occasionally put them away in favor of letting Ben Nugent pound on the skins a bit. The mix of soft, finger-picked folk songs with downright bouncy tunes harkens back to the raw parlor soul of Wild Honey-era Beach Boys and the lush Jack Nitzsche-Neil Young compositions from Buffalo Springfield. Alex has brought many of the same cast of characters from 2003's debut Not Exotic to help create this lush caldron of emotions including Violence producer Jeff Saltzman (Steve Malkmus), keyboardist Jay Clarke (on loan from labelmates The Standard), who added piano, vibraphones and organ and the aforementioned Ben Nugent on drums. Rather than serve as a mere cushion for Alex's poetically narrative lyrics, the musical collaboration has created a beautiful backdrop of sounds that moves and intertwines itself with the vocals throughout the album. Those drawn to the restraint of Dolorean's previous outing will find the growth of Violence in the Snowy Fields undeniable and enchanting.
