Review: The Diggs | Ctrl-Alt-Del [MP3s]

What else is left to say about The Diggs' sophomore set that we didn't say already? First, there is the matter of fronter Timothy Lannen's earnest vocal delivery. We sort of bullet-pointed his style as akin to that of Sunny Day Real Estate's Jeremy Enigk and Mineral's Chris Simpson here last month, but that was admittedly a bit lazy. While Messrs. Enigk and Simpson's singing to us conveys a vertiginous desperation, Lannen can communicate calm and confidence (the songs "Careen" and "Brigante" come to mind) that the latter singers were many times (this must be past-tense, as their styles have since evolved) too unstrung to attain. Of course, in other places -- including "You Really Used To Light Up The Room" and the title track to Ctrl-Alt-Del -- Mr. Lannen approaches commensurate levels of unhingedness as the aforementioned gentlemen, but we wouldn't call it his hallmark.

The defining characteristics of The Diggs' music are big dense melodies and measured dynamics. Rich bass anchors layers of guitars that we expect are difficult for the trio to duplicate live (we regularly call this "the Kitchens Of Distinction conundrum" during some of our nerdier music nerd conversations over pints) and propulsive drumming (with some really pleasing shell resonance on the snare) drives the compositions. It's not a new formula, as our belabored comparisons above attest, but The Diggs imbue their songs with ample energy and raw emotion that render formula sort of irrelevant. Sugarspun released Ctrl-Alt-Del March 11. The band performs two dates later this month in Brooklyn, including a record release show March 28. Both dates are detailed below.

[Nagging questions: How is it that there is no video of the Sunny Day Real Estate heartstopper "Sometimes" on YouTube? How is it that right now if you search YouTube the only recognizable band covering Sunny Day is Paramore? Oh yeah, here is the awesome.]

The Diggs -- "Careen" -- Ctrl-Alt-Del
The Diggs -- "Recovery Forever" -- Ctrl-Alt-Del
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[buy Ctrl-Alt-Del from Amazon here]

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03.21 -- Soundfix -- Brooklyn, NY
03.28 -- Union Hall -- Brooklyn, NY