Daddy Don't Disco

It seems humdrum party rock is thankfully on the backburner for the foreseeable future in the Dirty Skirts' camp. The Capetonian quartet are back with an innovative production, delighting radicals and sending purists fleeing.

'Daddy Don't Disco' doesn't take itself too seriously. Covering lyrical matter such as unicorns, outer space and — of course — father's daring dancefloor jigs, one quickly realises that profundity and quizzical substance is not what the audacious four are attempting to relay to new and old fans alike.

Shaped and judicially tweaked by Theo Crous — the indomitable producer responsible for a vast majority of our nation's big-name rock albums — this 10-track offering is lavishly strung with a swaggering series of tracks that characterise fashionable dance rock, in the process setting a welcomed new precedent on the South African music circuit.

Songs fly from the obscure to the downright eccentric, 'T Is For Turbo' and 'Wake' respectively epitomising the vast spectrum of styles covered by vocalist Jeremy de Tolly and cohorts.

It's an absolute pleasure not being able to typify The Dirty Skirts and their fresh delivery. Monotony and predictability are negative notions kept well at bay, especially when they stealthily slip in the humble 'Rolling Like Thunder' and its beautifully structured acoustic guitar-led segments, as well as the cheekily revised introduction to The Eagles' 'Hotel California' for the opening chords of 'Love Is A Smoking Gun'.

Then there’s the Killers-esque 'Can't Remember Your Name', the kitsch cool sections of 'Every Day Aches And Pains' and the title track's monstrosity of a sing-along chorus.

Guitarist David Moffatt recently heralded 'Witches Bewitch Us' as the potential result of the collaborative effort between Hugh Hefner and Lewis Carroll, going on to explain the song accounts the hallucinations of a man lost on a mountain. Moffatt’s convoluted description alone should be enough to get any potential listeners brimming in aural anticipation.

With an album truly impossible to fault, De Tolly's posse has outdone themselves in every respect. Background music it is not, inhibition-freeing revelry it most certainly is.