Last Dinosaurs - In a Million Years

Brisbane has a burgeoning indie music scene and if I ever want to start getting free concert tickets as a journalist I had better start writing about it. Earlier this week “Last Dinosaurs” released their debut album “In a Million Years,” joining such acclaimed company as “Yves Klein Blue” and “John Steel Singers” as Brisbane bands on indie record label “Dew Process.” 

Last Dinosaur’s entry into the world of full length albums begins with their newest single, “Zoom.” Fittingly this track best represents the bands style of any on the album. An up-tempo rock beat, melodious guitar riff, plucky rhythm guitar, dancey bass and a ridiculously catchy vocal line. I haven’t been able to stop singing it all day. Unfortunately the band seemed to realise this is what they do best because the next three tracks are essentially just inferior rehashes of Zoom. Not that any of them are bad songs in their own rights it’s just that I would rather just listen to Zoom four times over.   

“Andy”, track 5, signifies a bit of a change for the album. While still in an undeniably similar vein to the opening songs, it pulls back the rhythm guitar and brings some very distinctive steel drums as well as distorted guitar and heavier rock beat. This all serves to make the track feel a little thicker and warmer than its predecessors as well as giving some much needed variation to the album. It is also a sign of things to come as the next track, “Satellites”, is an instrumental, ambient, interlude which splits the album into its two halves. Beginning with the echoing sounds of water washing ashore this hugely evocative, atmospheric track places you by the ocean in a brilliant lead up to the stand out song of the album.

“Weekend” smoothly continues the beach feel of Satellites, beginning with a mid tempo drum beat and a ringing guitar, straight out of 2000s surfer rock. It proceeds to move through the verses until it hits a midpoint where it builds and climaxes into the infectious vocal line of, “I’ll take you to the park, I’ll take you to the ocean, I’ll kiss you till its dark, I’ll go through all the motions.” The mood of the song switches from a slightly blue, chilled out feel into triumphant ode to youth. It’s the sort of song that will leave you smiling in the goofy sort of way that makes sure no one will sit next you on public transport.

Annoyingly, the next two tracks ruin all Last Dinosaurs’ good work. “I Can’t Decide” is a strongly punk influenced track with a feel bordering on over produced emo music. Its chorus is reminiscent of “Linkin Park” in the worst possible way. “Used To Be Mine” isn’t a terrible song but it’s just an irritatingly boring ballad not aided by a mix which totally obscures the vocals behind layers of echo and cymbals.    

Second to last is "Honolulu", Last Dinosaurs’ signature track, from their 2010 EP “Back from the Dead”, this brings them back to their indie style and their strength. The closer is “Repair”, a simple but endearing track which plays almost like closing credits to the album giving you time to reminisce over all the other songs. It is a warm and pleasant and one of the most listenable on the record.

“In a Million Years” is an album which captures ‘youth’. The album’s title comes from the lyric in Zoom, “In a million years, when we’re older” and that’s exactly the feel that you get from Last Dinosaurs, that they are revelling in their youth, so far from old age that it’s not even conceivable; rightfully so for a band who’s oldest member is 22. This is also demonstrated with the albums focus on beginnings, epitomised by the creed-like (creed as in statement of belief, not the terrible post grunge band) chant of “The story only just, it just began, surely it should never ever end” from Honolulu.

Overall it’s a pretty simple equation, if you’re the sort of person who likes a dancey indie rock album you could do a lot worse than “In a Million Years”. If you like plucky guitars, catchy melodies and gratuitous quantities of reverb you could do a lot worse than “In a Million Years”. If you have run out of Foal and Phoenix albums you could do a lot worse than “In a Million Years”. It is a solid start for a young a band with huge room for growth. Of the albums the songs that will be finding it on to my iPod are Zoom, Andy, Weekend and Repair. And if you’re the sort of person who likes quantifying abstract concepts I give Last Dinosaurs’ debut album 6/10.