Only In Dreams (Bonus Track Version)

iTunes Review

It’s perfect synergy to have Richard Gottehrer and The Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner producing Dum Dum Girls’ big studio record. Once just bedroom recording project, Dum Dum Girls are now a real shimmering guitar band that sounds like the perfect foil to The Raveonettes. Elements of The Jesus and Mary Chain mix with the girl-group pop presence of “Bedroom Eyes” and “Just a Creep.” This is garage pop recorded in a very classy and classic garage. Surf riffs and handclaps leak out of the mix, above the wall of sound, with singer Dee Dee guiding things with the beauty of once-upon-a-time Gottehrer protégé Blondie on the charming “Heartbeat.” The passing of Dee Dee’s mother haunts tracks with the malingering sway of “Coming Down,” the tense shuffle of “Wasted Away,” the vocal ache of “Teardrops on My Pillow” and the sorrowful pull of “Hold Your Hand.” “Caught in One” wonders aloud at how awful the year has been. Yet this sorrow doesn’t ground the sonic excitement here; the growing pains only make the group more real.