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"Beauty Cries" Era Reviews & Articles

Beauty Cries Review
Lisa Fairbanks
Rhythm & News Magazine 8/98

Warning! Intelligent, twisted, pop rock contained herein! Almost laughing at the human condition, The Dent comes screaming out of (seemingly) nowhere with a collection of witty, extremely well-produced/arranged/performed tunes.

Each musician is able, equipped with superb instincts. Lead singer Mitchell Linker is an extraordinary find, melding interesting multi-part harmonies with spot-on, upper register vocal work.

Offerings such as “Suicide Honey,” (I know you have been torn to pieces/I know that you’d be a sorry wife/but when we make love our pain increases/why don’t we share a sorry life?” and “When I Get Over Myself” are lyrically eccentric, and its work a chuckle or two.

“Simple Girl” (a current Rhythm & News/WRRV “On-Stage radio show staple) is as hooky as can be, lending a nod to the ghosts in the punk arena of old. “Silent Laugh” is another standout, with a very cool fast-paced, syncopated vocal bridge.

The Dent, rounded out by Jeff Norberg (guitars, vocals); D. Rauh (bass, vocals, piano) and Dennis Cotton (drums) have released an important recording that tackles the challenge put forth by today’s alterative rock radio to find the next wave. “Beauty Cries” not only rides that wave with ease, but just might be instrumental in changing the direction of the flow.

Beauty Cries Review
Gene Ira Katz
 Ithaca Times 10/98

Every once in a while, a totally unexpected pleasure winds up on the ever-growing pile of CD’s that collect on the arts editor’s desk.  Such is the cased with Beauty Cries, the dazzling debut offering by The Dent, an Ithaca-based quartet recently relocated from Connecticut. “Warning! Intelligent, twisted, pop rock contained herein!” exclaims a five star review in Rhythm and News Magazine. Indeed, the ten original compositions are challenging, demanding, almost exhausting, while at the same time ridiculously catchy with a clean, radio-ready mix that’s at once understated and melodically rich.

 

Take the opening track, “Suicide Honey.” Are they putting us on? Is this an utterly hummable tune about necrophilia, or a tongue-in-cheek ploy by one depressive who wants to find a partnership with another? “Suicide honey/how you make it seem funny/you’re my just died suicide honey/” believe it or not, it gests stranger: In “Simple Girl,” The Dent proclaims: “I want inflictable pain/and unpredictable gain/live in a simple world/I want to feel less complex/with hate love and make-up sex/I want a simple girl.”

 

Lead singer Mitchell Linker delivers his lines with a vulnerable lyrical cry, sure to be appealing to college are audiences. Guitarist Jeff Norberg and bassist/keyboardist D. Rauh squeeze out a remarkable amount of music between them, given that the presentation is punk-rock spare and deceptively simple. Drummer Dennis Cotton proves a very versatile kit player, with a gift for pulling back when needed and pulling out all the stops when required. The Dent is a tight, tight, tight outfit and a must listen for fans of Modern Rock. If tracks lie “Suicide Honey” and “Sympathy Me” don’t garner much local airplay, somebody simple has too much cotton in their ears.

Power-pop tunes of The Dent dressed to The Nines
Jim Catalano
Ithaca Journal 2/4/99

Tonight, The Dent brings their sublime power-pop sound to the Nines. The band’s debut CD, “Beauty Cries,” was one of the 1998’s top local releases, earning my “Jimmie” award as best local rock album of the year. I wrote that the CD was crammed with “so many hooks that the 10 songs seem to immediately and permanently embed themselves in your head.” I also noted the band’s penchant for sweet-and-sour songs, such as “Suicide Honey” and Simple Girl.”

“Was as a band are a bundle of contractions,” says singer Mitchell Linker.  “That’s why it’s appropriate that the music is uplifting and happy, when the lyrics are deliberately dark and introspective.”

Linker, who is joined in The Dent by drummer Dennis Cotton, bassist D. Rauh and guitarist Jeff Norberg, cites Elvis Costello, Cheap Trick and Rush as some of the band’s primary influences.

Indeed, The Dent’s power-pop leanings are unmatched in the vocal music scene. “There’s such a plethora of jams bands around here – I don’t think we’ve improvised a note in our lives. “Linker says.

Instead, the band prefers to hone its arrangements into an accessible sound. “There’s an up-front likeability and immediacy, but there’s also a complexity the more you listen to it,” says Linker, who credits Rowe for arranging many of the band’s harmonies.  “There’s a dearth of music with harmony, both locally and nationally, these days. Vocals aren’t as important to many bands, but we put ours right t up in front.”

In concert, The Dent usually draws most of its songs from the album, but the band likes to toss in new material, an acoustic set and maybe even an oddball cover or two.

“Beauty Cries” was released on The Dent’s own label, Thursday Morning Records, which also has two other bands on its roster: Los Angeles altera-rockers M Headphone and Connecticut punchers My Own Grenade.

The Dent: Fender Benders”
Jeff Berkovici
Cornell Daily Sun 3/99

There’s something just not right about The Dent. Listen to the Ithaca-based quartet’s 1998 debut, “Beauty Cries,” and it soon becomes clear. In many ways, these ten tracks are standard ‘90’s pop-punk: the melody lines are lively to the point of mania; the grooves are uptempo and bounceable, if not exactly danceable; and the hooks are plentiful and effective.

But listen closer. Hear it? There, just above the rhythm guitar-aren’t those carefully written vocal harmonies?  Pay attention to what those voices are saying. Why, those sound like —could it be? — genuinely witty lyrics. What gives? If you didn’t know better, you’d have to assume that a modicum of compositional sophistication went into these songs. But, you ask, is there any place in the music world for high-quality pop?

The answer is, not immediately – and that may be why, despite their best efforts, you probably haven’t heard of the The Dent yet. Occupying a micro niche of a sub-genre in the music ecosystem, they sometimes see their uniqueness deterring the spread of their name. Says lead singer Mitchell Linker, “in the short term, it makes it difficult for us that we can’t be immediately likened to ay other band. That’s sort of a difficult sell.  In the short term, people aren’t necessarily looking for something innovative. They’re looking for something familiar.”

Given over neither to self-indulgent, stoner-friendly protracted jams nor to lightweight, marketable I-IV-V pop, The Dent has no ready-made fan base.

What they do have is a plan.  First part of that plan was to come to Ithaca. In 1998, Linker, guitarist Jeff Norberg, and bassist D. Rauh left their native Connecticut in search of “an environment conducive to being creative,” in Norberg’s words. Having graduated from Ithaca College, they knew Ithaca offered that environment, a place where, says Linker, “people will go out and see a band even if they’ve just heard of them, but haven’t necessarily heard their music.”

Ithaca had the added advantage of being within striking distance of New York City, a factor important to The Dent’s two-pronged plan of attack.

Explains Linker, “we’re trying to cultivate a following here in Ithaca and really make this a home for the band, but we’re also constantly networking and trying to drum up industry attention. Whenever we play (in NYC), we try to create a buzz, make it a bit of a promotional event.”

In the last couple years, The Dent’s buzz making had taken the form of an all-out media blitz. With the kind of efficiency that comes of playing together for many years, they compartmentalize, A-Team style. D. Rauh exploits connections made during his years in the music management, Linker works on infiltrating the airwaves.  And Norberg? “My mafia connections are pretty healthy. I smash some knees; pop a cap in someone’s ass.

Despite Norberg’s strong-arm tactics and Linker’s status as former music director for WICB, Ithaca College’s radio station, The Dent has yet to crack the regular rotations on local radio, although they can be heard on various specialty programs.  Don’t be shy, however: if your interest is piqued, call up WICB or WVBR and request something off “Beauty Cries.” For a pleasing first-time listen, I suggest “Suicide Honey” or “Simple Girl,” both of which are infuriatingly catchy and wickedly tongue-in-check.”

Attracting attention, however, is only half the challenge, for The Dent isn’t trying to sell a single, or even an album, but a vision.  “We want to work with a company that cultivates its artists, with a company that believes in us as much as we believe in ourselves,” says Norberg. “So, we’re being at least as picky as a record company is about its artist.”

Elaborates Linker; “I don’t want to make it seem like we’re wide-eyed, hoping to get a check for a million dollars. We gave up on that years ago. If a record deal comes along, great, in the meantime we just want to be able to keep doing this.”