And so here’s a video from everyone’s favourite male parent Dad Rocks!, or moustache virtuoso and all-round good egg Snævar Njáll Albertsson.
Weapons (and much of Snævar’s output as Dad Rocks!) fosters a sound that’s instantly familiar in its mellifluous acoustic fingerpickery – something like a wildly grinning Owen backed by the Mystic Valley Band – but Albertsson neatly avoids falling in line with the legions of lumpen indie-folk by virtue of his bizarre, oddly affecting lyrical nous. Let’s take the last song on his debut full-length, Mount Modern. It’s called Pants. Albertsson plays vulnerable at first, cooing the knocks to one’s self-worth that fatherhood can present – “And then you’re covered in shit/And you don’t think that you are fit/to be raising a kid” – before qualifying this with “that gets to suck on all the tits”. That’s kind of how Dad Rocks!, er, rolls.
The video for Weapons plays out as a cheerfully observed, self-effacing snippet of the vagaries of indie-rock fandom. I have been this video’s protagonist so many times that I’m not sure whether to laugh (I did), cry (I haven’t…yet), or further perpetuate the stereotype by sitting on my floor listening to headphones surrounded by my records (I’m working on it). My favourite bits are the 2 seconds that Jeniferever’s Choose A Bright Morning makes it into shot, Snævar trying to pass himself off as less enthusiastic than someone else, and every shot where the nerdy protagonist throws his arms into the air in utter, arcing-heart joy at experiencing Dad Rocks! related material. So, yeah, the whole video.
This Friday (so 25th May 2012), Dad Rocks! are headlining a warmup show for Brainlove Festival at the Gallery Café in Bethnal Green. Mount Modern is available to stream in its entirety (and buy) on the Dad Rocks! bandcamp. Also available there is the fine t-shirt featured in the video below, with the strapline ‘1 nice t-shirt for your body’. How can you refuse?