Dominic Eagle - The Kings of Nothing

Dominic Eagle

​The Kings of Nothing
self-released; 2016

3,5 out of 5

By Ted Rogen
​

Dominic Eagle is a young musician who only started learning to play guitar and sing about three years ago. After listening to his debut entitled The Kings of Nothing, which is completely self-produced I’d say he's off to a good start. He still has a long way to go before competing with some of the best bands out there are but there are some inspired moments littered throughout the EP.

The music has some darker roots in post-punk as well as bands like Radiohead and Portishead. Some songs have a distinct indie rock vibe. I was reminded a couple of times of the band Bloc Party.

He opens up with one of the more promising songs on the album entitled “The Kings of Nothing.” Eagle utilizes drone like swells from his guitar and also delivers one of his best vocal performances The whole vibe works. It’s jazzy, lounge-y, dark and hip sounding. Lyrically, the song is ambiguous yet poignant. He sings, “I had to stop you for a minute dear / You don’t know what I’m thinking / We have to disappear / From here / I saw you staring straight into my eyes / I won’t play mister nice / We have to disappear / From here.” All things considered the song is a success even if it may have fared better a tad bit shorter.

“Killers and Thieves” has a pretty different feel than the opener which points to Eagle’s relative short time at writing music. That being said I was digging the dark neo post-punk, which has some elements of shoegaze. 

The dark vibes continues on “Prophecy.” The ghostly synth he utilizes gives it a mysterious almost new age vibe. There is an Ultra serious feel to the song going on here. The distorted guitar gives it a NIN vibe.

I thought I was in for a stripped back song with “In Circles” before the rest of the instrumentation came in while “A Better Man” revolves around a large sounding piano. He has some more success with the Radiohead-esque “Calm Down” and the stripped down “Big Things.”

​Right now Eagle is in a good place but to get to the next level he will need to focus on defining his own sound a bit more. The album is scattered but he often shows some success in what he does attempt. With better production and more time and effort Eagle can come into his own. He is one to keep your eyes on.

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