By Danica Li
For the past decade and a half, Matthew J. Tow has had a slew of musical projects bubbling on the back burner. Aussie rock outfit Drop City, formed by Tow in 1993, is probably the band for which Tow is most widely known for fronting. A series of solo forays followed. Under the moniker Colorsound, Tow produced a half dozen albums over a decade before the psychedelic rockers of the Brian Jonestown Massacre co-opted Tow for the better part of a three-month tour.
When Tow formed the Lovetones in 2002, and released its debut, Be What You Want (Bomp!), he was immediately - and perhaps hyperbolically - hailed an apostle of David Bowie, Ray Davies, and Lennon and McCartney by bigwig media outlets like Rolling Stone. Originally described as a side project, but now presumed to be Tow's primary occupation, the Lovetones return in style with Dimensions, a medley of hypnotic pscyh rock, byzantine instrumental detours, and '60s-era balladry.
Consistently good but perpetually underrated, the Lovetones nevertheless show zero signs of slowing down for the siren's lure of commercial success. In all likelihood, Tow, as a staple food in the underground Australian rock scene - he's been around long enough to be a respected figure but not long enough to count as a calcified relic - has given up composing with an eye toward the pop charts (after nearly a decade, he disbanded Drop City due to what he interpreted as a "tidal wave of disinterest").
Still, Dimensions channels all the big shots of the '60s while maintaining a startling degree of originality. Cosmic and full of big, windy spaces, opener "Moonlit Suite" transitions into opulent first single "Journeyman," a perfect little thumbnail of the band's brand of lush psych rock. "There Is No Sound," further into the album, is a delicate, slim-waisted tribute to the folksy warblings of yesteryear Simon and Garfunkel, while "Two of a Kind" works a jangly pop groove to laudable results. Anton Newcombe, the creative engine powering the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Tow's close pal, guests on "A New Low in Getting High."
With its sensual sonic grains and gusty sweeps of shoegaze, the full-length's an entrancing and richly textured listen. The depth of Tow's songwriting craftmanship, taken in conjunction with the band's instrumental skill - a clutter of noise trained and restrained from, one suspects, years of relentless touring - makes for resonant melodicism and a free-associative approach to traditional pop song structures. It's a potent brew, sometimes dreamy and often lovely. Dimensions deserves the accolades it racks in - and even the ones it doesn't.
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