Initiation
27 May 2014
Zoo Music
2.5 stars out of 5
Haunted Hearts is the side project of Dee Dee Penny of Dum
Dum Girls and her husband Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles. There’s not much in
the sound or songwriting here to distinguish it from a regular Dum Dum Girls
album: it’s got the same dark sexiness, the same glam goth swagger.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t much else going for it.
The opener, “Initiate Me,” takes the beat from The Cure’s “Close
to Me” and throws a Dum Dum Girls song over top. While in theory both of these
things are good, the song is not the strongest example of songwriting—the song
and the rest of the record come across as rejects from Too True, re-purposed for Haunted Hearts. “Love Incognito” and “Strange
Intentions” would make catchy b-sides on some 7” somewhere, but here they feel
like filler that’s being asked to step up its game and become the main
attraction.
“You’ve been bad, but you’re the best I’ve ever had,” the
couple sings on “Bring Me Down.” In terms of their music, this isn’t the best
we’ve ever had from them. Not even close. Unnecessary even as a stop-gap (it’s
only been four months since Too True first
appeared on our record store shelves), Initiation
is a quickly forgettable thirty-one minutes, recommended only for the die-hard
and the curious.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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