Archive for June, 2009

Buried Treasure: dEUS - The Ideal Crash

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

For Belgian band dEUS, The Ideal Crash marked a glossier, more commercial production than its two predecessors, Worst Case Scenario and In A Bar, Under The Sea. Fortunately, this didn’t mean the band had lost its identity; there was still the same crunching guitar noise and dissonant jazz flourishes. But now these elements were done with more subtlety, with a broader musical palette (synths, harmoniums, theremins) and a clearer sense of melody (summed up by Mojo magazine as “Semisonic go Beefheart”).

Highlights of this new approach included ‘Instant Street’, which begins as a folkish, banjo-driven number à la Wilco and gradually builds into a climatic wall of guitars; ‘One Advice, Space’, which subtly shifts from moody keyboards to gentle strings in the chorus; and the likes of ‘Sister Dew’ and ‘The Magic Hour’, both boasting beautiful melodies that belie their dark undercurrents. In each instance, dEUS’s strength was utilizing contrasting shades and styles without it ever feeling forced or contrived.

Upon release in March 1999, The Ideal Crash received plenty of positive reviews from the music press: Q and Select both awarded the album 4 out of 5 and the NME rated it 8 out of 10. Yet despite the initial acclaim, the album had disappeared off most critics’ radar come December and failed to appear on any of the major music publications’ albums of the year lists; this coming in a year not blessed with definitive album releases.

Over ten years on, The Ideal Crash still sounds fresh, and although it’s debatable about whether it’s dEUS’s masterpiece, I do think it’s the most accessible entry point for newcomers wanting to investigate this brilliantly original band and their impressive back catalogue. It certainly was for me.

Paul Bovey

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