Review of Dr. Skinnybones New Release

My first exposure to Brooklyn’s Dr. Skinnybones came the same way a lot of great Brooklyn bands come to my attention, through the aid of Oliver Ignatius. His studio has been releasing compilations of all the bands they work with, and on Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen Section 2, Dr. Skinnybones had a song called “Bad Education.” It’s a great song, and the rest of their similarly named full-length is of equal quality. I got out to New York to see a show the studio put on featuring a bunch of their bands, and Dr. Skinnybones didn’t disappoint, ripping through a bunch of songs in their 30-minute set. Jake Williams and Miles Joris-Peyrafitte have a great energy together, and it continues to show on their new album A Last Hurrah For The Glory Of Drinking Alone.

It starts with a two-parter, “Revenge I” and “Revenge II,” a dark breakup song about the desire of a scorned lover to crush the one who betrayed them. A slow burn if ever there was one, the songs are a change of pace from the usual high-octane post-punk they do so well. Williams gets to bare his soul a bit more than usual, and it almost feels like a song from a Broadway musical the way it builds up on top of itself. Halfway through part two of the song there’s trumpet and hard rollicking drums behind Williams’ amped up guitar. The end adds the singing saw of Julian Koster (his Memory Tapes bandmate Robbie Cucchiaro provides the horn). There’s one really great verse in there that goes:

I know the truth. You’re afraid of me.
You cower in your room and watch the streets.
But your mistake-you think you’re strong.
But I can tear your heart out with this song

[ctd here]