by Jason

Dirty on Purpose hail from New York and play an infectious form of dream pop that makes you want to just move. That being said, it is also intelligent with layered guitars and key sounds creating a floating underbelly. Another nice touch with this band is that there are three rather great vocalists who either support one another in songs or they take turns fronting a song. Erika Forster has pop vocals to die for. Joseph Jurewicz has soft, gentle vocals. Doug Marvin has a great eighties pop feel to his vox and really brings another male vocal quality to the disc. Sleep Late for a Better Tomorrow is a brief 5 songs, but it is quality throughout.

The disc starts with “All New Friends” and has bright guitars and a driving, mid-tempo beat. Erika takes the helm as vocalist and creates a perfect pop opening for this brief (unfortunately) disc. The guitars work of Joseph and Doug play wonderfully off of each other with fantastic bass work gluing the whole track together. There are Slowdive style shoegaze elements floating amongst the dream-pop that just soar and move amongst the drums and bass. “Mind Blindness” follows with a metrical guitar sound shimmering and jangling, then the band comes in and Doug lends his soft vocals to the atmosphere. The bass line is very catchy and really carries the song in the beginning while the guitars tease us with their metrical and jangly sounds. Erika and Joe add their vocals as support during the chorus as the verses twist in and out with a slightly melancholy feel. Keys glimmer in the background as walls of sound built all around the listener. This blends into the middle track, “Cheat Death.”

“Cheat Death” is a quiet, almost ballad type song. This song is a good six minutes and there is a tad of storytelling feel to it, with the vocals almost talking to you and the acoustic guitar floating on an ocean of keys and guitar sounds. This song has a sorrowful feel to it and makes for a perfect break from their infectious pop groves. “Girl and Sunshine” moves the listener to a more solid pop feel, but there is still a bit of melancholy sense in the air. Erika’s and male vocals play off one another and the guitars jingle and jangle between the phrases. This song leads into one of my fave on the EP and that is “Spider Eyes.” This has a tribal beat at the bass takes center stage at the beginning. After a few bars, the guitars kick and the high hat really starts to jam. This builds to a huge staccato wall of sound forms in-between verses among spaced out sounds and listless bass work. This staccato style vibe ends the disc with a jolt of high energy and, unfortunately, the disc is over. They give the listener just enough to want so much more!

Dirty on Purpose’s brand of dream pop is perfect, dreamy, and intelligent. The energy on this disc is perfection. All I can say is, I hope this band survives and lives to write, record and play more!