From Paris with ambiance comes Dewey, a DNA steeped with indie-pop vibes and coated in dark shoegaze and electronic textures. They have burst onto the scene, their first song released just last year, and now, a debut album to boot. Vocalist/guitarist Matthieu Berton is pleasantly surprised with how good the reception has been thus far.
“It’s quite exciting,” he opens up. “We didn’t expect that much press feedback; now we’re really excited by the idea of touring and defending it live.”
Summer on a Curb has been out for a few months now, via French indie label Howlin’ Banana Records. It blends late ‘90s nostalgia and splashes in indie influences such as Wishy, Wednesday, Hotline TNT, and Slow Pulp. The record was self-produced and is a fresh off-the-boat debut, with poppy, hazy guitars and heartfelt undertones; it’s hard to really pinpoint when it all truly started to come together during the process.
“You never really know,” admits Berton. “You always want to change something, have guitars mixed differently, change structures, etc. We wanted to release it on a precise date, so at some point, it becomes a photograph of songs taken at a precise moment that would probably sound totally different a few months later, and that’s cool.”
“Jinx” explores the contradiction between the desire for popularity and the ephemeral nature of trendiness, while “City Has Come to Crash” is the perfect track for a 3 a.m. taxi ride around any urban landscape while taking stock of your life. “Outside of the Lines” showers us with nostalgia suspended between despair and optimism. That’s only three of the 11 songs on the record, and already a wide breadth of topics and emotions.
“It really took shape during the recording and mixing process,” shares Berton. “It started with 13 or 14 bedroom, self-produced demos that we had the opportunity to bring into David’s studio in Paris 11. We decided to cut some of it and get straight to the point.”
Barely a year or two into their career, and Dewey is already pounding at the door. Berton says trying to stand out a bit in front of the crazy number of good bands the scene in France gave birth to was a challenge. But with help from Howlin’ Banana and their PR team, it made all the difference. The hope for the future is to play some gigs and bask in the glory of a job well done.
“The Paris indie scene, even if it can struggle with all the complexity of it, is such a great town to dig around. There are a lot of cool places that allow small bands to play and mix with “bigger, international bands.” Apart from that, it really is the main landscape where the majority of the songs from the album take place.”
Photo credit: Guillaume Dufour
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