Ian Dadon - Am I There?

Hear The Track Here

When I first met Isreali musician Ian Dadon with The Comedian (November 2009) I, in my usual lazy fashion, compared him to yet another Soundclick musician - JPC (NZ) - although further tracks from Ian showed other sides of him. So far I've reviewed more than a few of this musicians tracks and I think I still haven't got a proper grip of what he is about. This is probably because, like a lot of indie musicians he is constrained by equipment issues - which are surprising hard to iron out even these days, and he is probably more of a songwriter than a musician. If that sounds like I have it in for him, better go check what I have said in the past - it's his songs that have earned him the kind of praise he gets (and not just from me).

The reason I drag an obviously unwilling John Paul Carroll into this conversation again is because, by God, this could have come directly from one of JPC's early stream of songwriting - at least sound and style. Ian Dadon is a very different artist though, darker certainly. 'It's hard to explain this one' Ian says in his song comments and I definitely agree with him because I'm certainly having a hard time with. Musically, it seems to owe a nod of respect to bands such as Joy Division and others of that ilk, lyrically too because if you can make any sense of it...

For my money, as good as the track is, it's punch is somewhat blurred by a drummer who seems to have at least twenty arms and a severe overdose of speed (or a Keith Moon complex come to think of it). Nonetheless, if you can get past the opaqueness of both the lyrics and their delivery, Am I There is a pretty decent piece of navel/shoegaze indie rock and certainly nothing that Ian should lose any sleep over. Definitely most people who like this genre will find much appeal in this track and probably wouldn't be so p-i-c-k-y as me anyway, I'm a right bastard for that lately. Either that or I'm going through the menopause (Ed: do 200 year olds have that?)

Recommended Indie rock.