Dear Leader

War Chords (Lunch)
by Tim Den

Dear Leader is former The Sheila Divine guitarist/vocalist Aaron Perrino’s new “solo project,” no doubt a bittersweet one after the almost-made-it story of his old band. Oh indie rock cruelty, when will you cease? When will good bands defy your impossibilities by making good music and being able to afford food at the same time?

War Chords EP sounds, not surprisingly, like The Sheila Divine unplugged. Perrino’s voice is featured more, now that it doesn’t have to fight distortion and rhythm for the spotlight, and its predictable-but-still-great nature are all but a style of its own by this point. Borrowing the mood of Morrissey without ever copying the actual progressions, the songs never feel overindulgent in that “awwww, he’s finally letting his ‘solo artist’ soul soar” kinda cheesiness. Why any of the songs here (or any of The Sheila Divine songs) aren’t all over the radio, I’ll never know. Let’s hope luck is on Dear Leader’s side and that Perrino finally hits success this time around.
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