The Dimly Lit - The Paradise EP

The Dimly Lit

The Paradise EP
self-released; 2017

​3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Kaichi Fujita (vocals/guitar), Josh Jerin (guitar), Dick Welch (bass) and Trevor Brooks (drums) are The Dimly Lit. The band released The Paradise which is four-song demo quality release.  Grizzly Bear and Modest Mouse as influences. The band is a little more aggressive to my ears and in most cases tend to use a good amount of distortion.

Up first is “Child Of The Night” which is a fairly straightforward yet versatile rock song. It’s dynamic and I thought Fujita was an engaging vocalist. There are a good amount of transitions and the band keeps the energy flowing at a good pace.

“Deep The Knife” has some inspired moments which include an anthemic chorus and aggressive ending. I thought “Night Soil” was a step above mainly due to the vocal harmonies and hooks. “Paradise” was an instrumental effort that has some post-rock inspired moments but was hard to fully appreciate because of how lo-fi the recording was. 

On that note In order to be in a similar league with those bands they are going to have get a significant step up in the production and recording quality. On this EP the songs sound like a decently recorded rehearsal session not something you expect from even a mid tier studio. 

On top of that I would like to hear the band push a little more as to where the songs can go (especially sonically). One of the reasons Grizzly Bear found success is because they were pushing boundaries. I’d like to hear if The Dimly Lit can do that as well but in their own way. Mix in unconventional timing like 7/8, make the guitars sound less like guitars at times and so forth.

I get the feeling that they haven't been playing together for too long. As of right now I think they clearly fall into a case of wait and see. There is a lot of potential here as the songs were well written, dynamic and quite infectious. That being said they have a couple hurdles to cross before being on even soil with their influences.

Overall, I found the EP enjoyable in numerous ways. I hope to hear more soon.

Become A Fan

Tweet