What the Critics Said
“He finds his rudder on We Should Be Together: straight-ahead guitar-driven pop-punk laced with an entire life’s worth of pop reference points sprinkled on hooks, vocal harmonies, and choruses like an AM radio patina. Dove refrains from searching for some pop über-bliss that comes from outright Billy Joel or Lindsey Buckingham worship, instead letting his music feel a little unpolished, imperfect, and invitingly personal…”
Bret McCabe, Baltimore City Paper
“They’re Watching You” is one of those songs that gets under your skin. “Every Aspect of Entertainment” is another cool little song in two parts. Part 2 really kicks. Probably one of the highlights (right now anyway) is “When Autumn Comes Around” – it’s like baby bear’s bowl of porridge. It’s just right…”
“Dove is a Baltimore musician who somehow manages to mix 60’s pop, dreamy atmospheres and grungy textures seamlessly. His debut record – We Should Be Together – was produced and recorded J Robbins, but he doesn’t fit the mold of the bands you’d normally associate with the Desoto records founder…”
“Released last fall, Jason Dove’s We Should Be Together is a dramatic amalgam of classic pop, pluckiness, and a rock intensity rarely heard in heartfelt indie songs such as these. The beefy groove of “So You Know” is bolstered by the knob-turning of J. Robbins (Jawbox), who recorded the album in late 2006 at his Baltimore studio The Magpie Cage. Exposed, humorous, and adroitly arranged, We Should Be Together introduces itself with Dove plucking a ukelele, but quickly plunges into vocal harmonies, skulking melodies (”Come Back To Me”), and statospheric noise intros that somehow lapse into settling nightcaps (”Wishing It Was Over”). The title track develops as floor toms march forth a harmonious ditty. The composition takes on several personalities as a change 90 seconds in flip-flops the mood with hypnotizing vibraphone…”
“Jason Dove’s second full-length album, We Should Be Together, is a more complex kettle of fish than the previous, Pronto. The fourteen new tracks are simply executed pop melodies ranging from lo-fi moodiness like, “Old Men,” to prog. I expected catchy but predictable rhythms and rhyming lyrics, given the Daniel Johnston association. I still got the rhyming lyrics, but I was surprised by the change in direction the songs were taking, like the sharp turn into the festering guitar hook in “So You Know” that made me stop and listen…”
