{"id":12874,"date":"2025-03-25T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12874"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:25:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:25:05","slug":"album-review-dinner-club-brave-faces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2025\/03\/25\/album-review-dinner-club-brave-faces\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review :: Dinner Club :: Brave Faces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/dinnerclubbravefaces.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12875\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/dinnerclubbravefaces.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/dinnerclubbravefaces-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/dinnerclubbravefaces-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/dinnerclubbravefaces-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>by Mykhailo Vil\u2019yamson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unknown is intimidating because, by definition, it\u2019s unfamiliar. This can express itself as fear \u2014 either unfounded or rational \u2014 or alternatively, as fascination. Regardless, uncharted territory is worth exploring when there\u2019s a choice, as one never knows what one might find. It\u2019s easy to surround oneself with the recognizable and \u201csafe.\u201d But isn\u2019t life more exciting when deliberately leaving room for surprise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>This is where I was at when learning that Dinner Club was \u201ctrumpet-infused punk rock\u201d (as they describe it). Seemed to me like a replacement expression for \u201cska punk\u201d (which isn\u2019t really my jam). However, while some of the sound is at times not unlike The Mighty Mighty BossToneS or Rancid, their latest release <em>Brave Faces<\/em> definitely leans more punk, and I like what I hear \u2026 even with the horns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ten-song LP by and large deals with the interplay of certainty and uncertainty, whether it\u2019s reminiscing about how things used to be (as opposed to how things are now), ruminating about relationships that are only half under our control, or wondering how things will turn out in the future (when the present feels like an unaided drifting). There\u2019s definitely also a particular emphasis on place, with allusions to small town fairs in \u201cUntouchable,\u201d an ode to Winnipeg itself in \u201cStomping Grounds\u201d (with references to Garbage Hill, the Manitoba Legislative Building, and the Forks), and their upbeat cover of \u201cOne Great City\u201d by The Weakerthans with a few modified lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All in all, it\u2019s an energetic sophomore album with a good balance between the back-and-forth of the brother\/sister vocalists, pacing, strategic stops\/starts, sing-along-ability, and sci-fi references. Combine this with a blend of trumpet, pedal steel and references to this city we hate\/love, and that\u2019s <em>Brave Faces<\/em> (which the band says you can stream, buy, or \u2014 in good punk rock fashion \u2014 steal).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Mykhailo Vil\u2019yamson The unknown is intimidating because, by definition, it\u2019s unfamiliar. This can express itself as fear \u2014 either unfounded or rational \u2014 or alternatively, as fascination. Regardless, uncharted territory is worth exploring when there\u2019s a choice, as one never knows what one might find. It\u2019s easy to surround oneself with the recognizable and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1420,1722,1721,1357,865,1724,1723],"class_list":["post-12874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-brave-faces","tag-dinner-club","tag-punk-rock","tag-ska","tag-ska-punk","tag-trumpet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12876,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874\/revisions\/12876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}