Sometimes you forget just how long a band has been around and that thought was clearly brought to mind by Dropkick's tenth album "Time Cuts The Ties". Doing the math, Dropkick have been making albums for a song as I have been writing about music.
So, with this album, Dropkick once gain keep to a familiar path with their polished alt-folk sound and precision harmonies providing much to please the ears. "Bad Line", for example, is as good an example of their sound as you will find mixing catchy hooks into the most mellow of aural confections. However, there seems to be darker things lingering in the background this time around with a certain melancholy pervading many of the other songs here. This might be a deliberate change of style – the band has, after all, reverted to its original line up for "Time Cuts The Ties" – or maybe a reflection on the depressing state of music in Scotland at the moment. Listening to "Everything Changes" might well remind you of later period Beach Boys but there are also dark clouds where you would normally find summer sun. Perhaps it does not matter that Dropkick have gone all serious when you have ear friendly elegance like "Breathing Space" to enjoy but perhaps it should.
Dropkick are one of those bands that know what they want to do and do it well. Whilst I was expecting that "Time Cuts The Ties" would make for a fine summer album, it instead left me thinking that it would soon be autumn.