Sometimes you just need to keep things simple. And even if you could legitimately argue that 'simple' is all the Dum Dum Girls are capable of, I Will Be works by doing just that. In under a half hour, eleven songs skip by with effortless ease and yet, for such a brief encounter, they certainly make an impression. It's not unlike a fleeting glimpse of a particularly cool, attractive boy or girl on the subway—the main difference being that, unlike that now long-gone object of desire, you can bask in the glow of I Will Be again by pressing play (which you likely will do).
Their music is simultaneously approachable and aloof, awash in luxurious reverb, and abundant with an instantly palatable combination of Phil Spector girl-groupiness and Jesus and Mary Chain haze. "Blank Girl" even manages a kind of "Sometimes Always" (the JAMC's killer duet with Hope Sandoval) in reverse, with Crocodiles' lead singer Brandon Welchez (himself a big devotee of the Mary Chain) doing the deadpan Jim Reid honours.
And then there's that name. On the surface, it's seems a self-effacing and preemptive admission of their rather basic M.O. Yeah, yeah, they know, folks—their music is easy to play. But I love the percussive onomatopoeia of "dum-dum", a phrase that perfectly mimics the über-groovy drumbeats that drive I Will Be straight to the heart of hip-shake land. Call it plain. Call it easy. Call it derivative. Just don't call it dumb.