DAG TO RELEASE DOUBLE LP: SECOND SINGLE ‘BIG PLANS (LITTLE HANDS)’ OUT APRIL 23
Hey hey! Spirits rejoice! It’s a new Dag album. And something is going on here - there’s a new Dag in town. It’s that thing when singer/songwriter Dusty Anastassiou walks on stage, talks into the mic and the room just kinda melts ‘cause everyone knows this guy has got us all covered - he’s with you and of us and he sounds at peace with the crumbling passage of your day. Well, it’s that thing, but beautifully recorded for posterity and spread across two platters of vinyl (yes two!) to warm the cockles of your broken heart.
But it’s much more too. Lifetones in the key of three - a band that’s so snug you don’t even notice there are three of them. These pups are from the same litter. They’ve got the group-think glue, Dan Ford and Dave McMillan sewing it all up seamlessly with the Dust. But you still want more! That’s the beauty of recording songs - you can have a bit more, and it’s all here friend. Field recordings of a distant storm, Nicole Thibault’s trombone, violin from Lily Tait, casiotone tinkly bop courtesy of Stefan Blair, spot-on extra vox from Liv Jansz and Francisca Castro-Merino, plaintive keys over a decaying mumbled voice - that lovely double album stretch-out.
"Big Plans (Little Hands) is about the joys of falling in love, finding peace and comfort in connecting with someone completely — and the false promise of escaping your self through someone else. Who better to represent these complex emotions than our friends the teddies?"
- Dusty Anastassiou, Dag
As you read this, Dusty is most likely somewhere near a small town called Munduberra, and there’s no mistaking this album is an Australian record - think The Cannanes circa Randell Lee (or indeed Ashtray Boy) via rural Queensland and you might have a starting point musically. Maybe there is some regional AM country radio in here? I wouldn’t know. I do know Dusty used to take long drives through the deep Australian night with his Mum while Harold Budd played on the car stereo. So there’s a bit of depth beneath the mystery of Dag. “The sad old planet has seen better days" sings Captain Dusty - but as Albert Ayler let us know, music is the healing force of the universe. So get a dose of Dag in your day!
- Leighton Craig, Brisbane, 2021