Album review: Dollar Signs – Hearts Of Gold
North Carolina punks Dollar Signs offer hope, hilarity and self-hatred on excellent third album Hearts Of Gold.
“Sometimes we get labelled as a comedy band, but I use comedy as a tool so I can say shit that really matters to me.” Dollar Signs frontperson Erik Button is acutely aware of the perceptions that arise when your band’s music contains jokes about Paul Blart and Taco Bell. So too is he intent that such levity isn’t written off as mere folly, because the lyrics he writes aren’t some kind of Tenacious D or Steel Panther-esque LOL-fest.
In blending moments of light relief with an intense and at times downright depressing insight into the trauma of everyday life, Erik and his bandmates make vital and honest punk music, and with third album Hearts Of Gold, they’ve penned a collection of songs that provide a welcome soundtrack to the anxious and uncertain age in which we live.
Combining self-aware humour with the heart-on-sleeve catharsis of PUP and Spanish Love Songs, Dollar Signs charm their way through rowdy punk tracks like B.O.M.B.S. and Falling Off, the latter of which tells the story of a panic attack at a school dance where the DJ refuses to play Sum 41. The joyous, boozy punk jam Bad News is the best of the bunch, and a song built around a riotous collision of gang vocals, horns and keys, as they deliver their message that, 'Bad news goes down better with a beer'.
The cumulative result is a record packed full of loud-then-quiet, happy-then-sad moments, but despite the misery that overshadows many of the tunes, the band's euphoria shines through. A hopeful ode to healing and change, with this album, Dollar Signs have struck gold.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: The Menzingers, Spanish Love Songs, PUP
Hearts Of Gold is released on March 12 via Pure Noise.