THE DEARS - PERFECT SON

Their orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows cemented The Dears at the foundation of the then-emerging Canadian indie renaissance.

The Dears

The  Dears, a critically acclaimed  “orchestral-pop-noir-romantique” rock’n’roll band from Montréal, is the lifework of Murray A. Lightburn.  Son  of  a  jazzman-turned-preacher, Lightburn’s  attunement  to  songwriting  was  shaped  equally  by nineties rock and a broad tableau of gospel, soul, and pop music. The  band  formed  in  1995  and  released  their  first album, End  of  a  Hollywood Bedtime  Story,  in  2000.  Their  orchestral,  dark  pop  sound  and  dramatic  live shows  cemented  The  Dears  at  the  foundation  of  the  then-emerging Canadian indie renaissance. In 2001 and 2002, they released the EPs Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique and Protest,  respectively,  as  well  as  a  collection  of  unreleased songs, Nor the Dahlias. In 2003 they released their second full-length album No Cities Left, and a string of highly anticipated shows at SxSW ’04 launched their international career. Gang of Losers was released in 2006, and was well received by the press. 

The Dears’ music has been described as a cross between The Smiths and Serge Gainsbourg with Lightburn’s singing voice being likened to Morrissey as well as Blur’s Damon Albarn. The complexity of the music and arrangements has also been  compared  to  Radiohead,  Jethro  Tull  and  early  Genesis.  The  Dears’ powerful live shows have been described as: “…the sonic equivalent of seeing the face of God.” Gang  of  Losers was  named  to  the  Short  List  for  the  2007  Polaris  Music  Prize, and  the  follow-up Missiles was  released  in  2008. The  Dears’  fifth  studio album, Degeneration Street, was a Long List nominee for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize.