Dick Move – Dream, Believe, Achieve (1:12 / Flying Nun Records) (13th Floor Album Review)
Unfiltered, Explosive, Political, Punk. Dick Move’s latest album Dream, Believe, Achieve, is a giant fuck you to the current political climate in Aotearoa and beyond.
Bold and uncompromising, they wear all their emotions right on the end of their middle fingers, not caring about who’s offended, nor should they. I found myself gritting my teeth in furious agreement at a lot of the statements coming out of this album, a message to all who deny the growing divide between power and people, that if you don’t get your shit together, we’ll get it together for you, perhaps with fists and flying elbows.
From playing sweaty concrete basements to opening for the likes of Foo Fighters, Amyl & The Sniffers and The Chats, this crew is a force to be reckoned with, and the energy I get from listening to them is second to none.
Members Lucy Macrae, Luke Boyes, Lucy Suttor, Justin Rendell and Hariet Ellis have crammed years of frustration and anger into a 25-minute, speaker destroying, anti-establishment brutathon of an album.
Right from the get-go you get sucker punched with Fuck It, brutal and honest, with plenty of distortion and anger. A real anti patriarchy piece, totally raw and clearly coming from experience of these extremely old views on how woman should or shouldn’t.
Try Hard’s fast guitars and 80’s Garage Punk drum sound lends a gracious hand to vocalist Lucy Suttor to shout about exactly that, trying hard. It’s a surprisingly positive take on pushing yourself and the people around you to just do it. Being picked on for trying hard is all too common, and breaking those norms by screaming into the mic is the perfect way to do it in my opinion.
Run For Your Money, Shut Your Mouth and Bludger feel like one huge song, about money. The all-encompassing soul sucking entity that is money. Blurry solos and driving bass cause an anxiety driven three track aneurism, giving the feeling that far too many people deal with in their daily lives. A total takeover of the mind which causes greed and corruption. The tracks bring light to the hardships everyone faces in these trying times, the drums beating on overdrive like an upcoming heart attack, the whining guitars spitting at the man, cursing them for capitalist greed and ego-centric assholes.
Which then leads to my personal favorite track on the album Scared Old Men, the longest track smack bang in the middle of the album. To say this track has a lot to say is an understatement. The years and years of wrong decisions, poor judgement, anger, hate, racism, sexism, war, greed, corruption, everything negative that’s led to this moment in our lives is summed up in this masterful piece of political poetry. There’s a very clear message here with what Dick Move believe is the root cause of our societal collapse. And I couldn’t agree more.
Nurses is the album single, and again it’s very clear what they’re screaming about. Like Scared Old Men, this track has a much darker feeling then the others. This song cuts deep. This year alone $2.9 billion was handed to property investors, whilst hospitals remain understaffed, overflowing and stretched to the limits. The song explores the clear lack of compassion from our government, causing many to go unseen and remain sick. The smashing of sounds and crashing of frequencies turns this song into a fast, rhythmic protest piece.
Cracks bring the brighter sound back in, with more of an old school dance punk feel; you’ll want to head bang with your mates in the garage to this one.
The next two tracks Up The Bus and Good Time Girl are as punk as you’ll get. Short, explosive and high octane, they spit mayhem with every chord, I can see these ones getting really sweaty at the shows, full on, wall of death lunacy. Two great songs to get rid of that excess energy.
If you’ve ever been out on the town in K-Road, then this track Karanga-A-Hape sums it up to a T… messy, good chats, old mates and many beers. You’ll find yourself in many outrageous situations that only happen on this iconic strip of chaos. The smashing guitars and sprinting drumbeat are the combos of a night well earned. While the vocals and bass let you know this isn’t a song of aggression, but of love for the landmark and all it bought for the maggots of the scene.
Just because you wear a suit doesn’t mean you’re cool. And Suits is a straightforward song explaining just that. The messy chaotic intro is on point, and the tribal drums give it a sort of mad panic. We all know how annoying the suits can be, Vocalist Lucy Sutton yells, “Lick your wounds, swallow your chances, I won’t be bowed by your advances.” Yup, we’ve all been there, and this song puts it exactly how it is.
Which leads us to the final piece Handful. A continuation of the ego-tripper, no boundary low life of the previous track. The lyrics speak for themselves, the delivery is powerful, straight forward, and honest as you can get. Loud and proud, it’s a furious end to a monumentous album.
Overall, Dream, Believe, Achieve is totally and utterly perfect for the current climate of today’s hostilities, broken systems, and political junk. The album wears its heart right on its sleeve, the band is letting everyone know exactly how they feel and why.
They’ve clearly done a lot of research and are very well versed in today’s issues, which really comes out in almost all the songs. There’s so much to unpack here, and I can see myself going back repeatedly to get all the information and stories that gave this album so much more than just 25 minutes of music.
It’s a political essay, a poem of anger and outrage, but also of experience and cruelty that the lyrics perfectly lay out. But even though this album is filled with pessimism and distortion, there’s also a lot of love for the people, places and attitudes that shape the scenes we find ourselves coming back to, whether it’s for connection, safety, vibes or just to bum around, Dick Move have created a movement that that speaks for itself.
This is what punk was invented for, expressing yourself in any form you like. If it’s screaming at the top of your lungs, smashing amps, calling out bigots, or just having a laugh, that’s all up to you. But whatever punk is, they’ve certainly captured the true meaning of that right here.
Lochlan Lewis
Dream, Believe, Achieve OUT NOVEMBER 14TH VIA 1:12 & FLYING NUN RECORDS
