The circus is in town.
Dexter Jones Circus Orchestra are a five piece alt-rock outfit from Sweden. They're generally touted as stoner rock, but this label only seems to fit them to a certain degree. Obviously they do have a stoner feel ; Queens Of The Stone Age being an obvious comparison, but the Dexter Jones... sound seems to have a lot more in common with classic rock for the most part, and the new album "Side By Side" has a really strong and very old fashioned 60's/70's rock vibe running through its core; something like Led Zeppelin playing Jet covers with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals.
Overall it's a real mixed bag of an album, most of the tracks are slow and proggy and not particularly heavy, like 'Feel The Cold' which bizarrely comes across like ZZ Top meets The Beatles, very strange, and not a good mixture really. Luckily there are a few redeeming moments 'Conceptual Ways' has a really good tune, catchy and a bit heavier than most, it's also one of the more stoner-rockish tracks with some quite nice heavy riffs, 'In The Lion's Pit' has a lovely light riff and a real sing along tune and 'Expectations' definitely the best track on the record, is a real winner, starting out slow and quietly measured and building to an almost epic crescendo.
There is a bluesy feel throughout which is really nice and adds a bit of interest, however in between the stand out tracks you might feel your attention dropping off a bit and at times ten tracks feels like it's going to be way too long. Unusually for this kind of alt-rock band they have a really light, fresh feel, this is down to the production which is quite sparse and clean, this is a definite plus though because it means you get a real chance to hear each sound individually without it being smothered under a wall of fuzz and even though there are times when the album does drop off and become less accessible and a bit rambling, there are some genuinely great moments to be had.