Diane Coffee: Everybody's a Good Dog (Western Vinyl) Review

Diane Coffee

Everybody’s a Good Dog

Western Vinyl

Sep 02, 2015 Issue #54 - August/September 2015 - CHVRCHES By Lily Moayeri

Shaun Fleming's second solo album under his Diane Coffee guise, Everybody's a Good Dog, has as many personas as it has tracks. Fleming doesn't worry himself about timeframes or styles—or cohesion, for that matter. Whatever he's into turns up on Everybody's a Good Dog. The airy, breathy opener, "Spring Breathes," is not at all an indication of the album's direction, as the very next track, "Mayflower," is a Rolling Stones-style number but way noisier and with layers upon layers of fantastic horns. The reggae swings and shivery dub of "Soon to Be, Won't to Be" allow for a reprieve before "Down With the Current" and its Motown-inspired backing vocalists blend into the '50s girl group sound and jangly guitars of "Tams Up." There is a look back to the hazy psych of his debut, My Friend Fish, on "GovT," with some added bite and growl, but then "Duet" sounds like it could have been done with Olivia Newton John at the height of that '70s icon's popularity. "Too Much Spaceman" takes its title to heart and goes too space-jammy for too long. The thought comes up more than once as to whether Fleming wasn't a Rocky Horror Picture Show audience member: theatrical tracks like "Everyday," "Not That Easy," and even the raw punk of "I Dig You" could easily belong to that cult institution. (www.westernvinyl.com/artists/diane-coffee)

Author rating: 5.5/10

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Average reader rating: 9/10