Takers and Leavers - EP

iTunes Review

An EP used to bridge the stopgap between Dr. Dog’s breakthrough Easy Beat and its follow-up, We All Belong, Takers and Leavers is offered in the spirit of an indie rock tradition that also includes Pavement’s Watery, Domestic and Dinosaur Jr.’s Whatever’s Cool With Me. With two songs from We All Belong (“Ain’t It Strange,” “Die, Die, Die”) and three outtakes, Takers and Leavers accomplishes its mission by reminding its audience why Dr. Dog is outstanding without overshadowing its anticipation for We All Belong. This mini-album ebbs and flows like a full-length, leaving the release to feel more like the skeleton of a full album than a collection of throwaways. More classical than anything from Easy Beat, the opener “Ain’t It Strange” is a Phil Spector song in slow motion — the band is quickly making this brand of expertly arranged epic its calling card. “Goner” is Dr. Dog’s own “Rock’N’Roll Suicide,” with vocalist Toby Leaman playing Ziggy Stardust to a burning house of dueling guitars and grand piano. The remaining songs split the difference between Easy Beat’s streaming pop promise and rough-hewn acoustics, proving that Dr. Dog is only sharpening their focus on a sound they delivered so strikingly on Easy Beat.