A bittersweet debut for the promising Canadian band.
There is a huge amount of potential contained within with this very interesting debut. It is a tale of two bands though. There is the strong four piece band ready to tour this new release, and there is the three piece band that Dour started life as and recorded the album with, of which one of the founder members passed away just twenty-three weeks ago. Bassist Gabe Jacob Ferman died at the young age of thirty. By all accounts he was a wonderful person to know, warm, kind and empathetic. Lead singer and guitarist Zak Salehian wrote, “I do firmly believe the world has lost one of its strongest companions. To live and love the way Gabe has to me is a great inspiration of courage and selflessness.”
With just seven tracks this is flirting between EP and album. The first half is phenomenal. Lead single ‘Neophiliac’ is a real mood piece, emerging out of some low end harmonies, the bass does the heavy lifting as on much of the album. Neophiliac means a person who has a strong love, enthusiasm, or craving for anything new and novel. That concept slightly cuts against the dour tone of the music. Part Fontaines DC, part Joy Division. This is a confident group that know exactly what they are about. It is the second single ‘Towers’ that brought the band to our attention, undoubtedly one of the better singles of the year. It has an epic Interpol-style intro and just opens into a fine piece of indie-rock with rolling drum patterns, a surprisingly funky rhythm section and searing stabs of guitar. Salehian has quite a distinctive vocal style, perhaps closest to James McGovern of The Murder Capital.
‘Laugh’ continues the brilliance, another intricate indie-banger. ‘Mundies’ brings the pace down a fraction whilst keeping a similar sonic palette. The rest of the tracks play out solidly, without quite bottling the same degree of magic as the opening three. ‘Laugh,’ ‘Call’ and ‘Mundies’ all appeared on their Rudiments EP in 2025. The versions presented here feel remastered, sharper and the vocals less murky. ‘Numbers’ also had an earlier release as a single in 2024. ‘This leaves ‘Just Enough Rice’ as the only entirely new music on the album. This is a great place to jump on board as a newcomer though.
Thematically across the album are suggestions of technological saturation, social detachment, and the erosion of self.
Of the three people who recorded the album, only Zak Salehian remains in the new line-up. It will be interesting to see how these tracks evolve in the hands of an almost entirely new band and what impact the newcomers have on the overall direction and sound of Dour going forwards. This offering will appeal to fans of Interpol, Editors, Joy Division and plenty more.
Essential Tracks: ‘Neophiliac,’ ‘Towers’ and ‘Laugh.’
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