D.I.Y. roots rock heroes
Dispatch return with a renewed vigor on
Break Our Fall, their eighth studio album. Their previous two releases, 2017's
America, Location 12 and its tonally related 2018 sibling
Location 13, played almost like anthologies of the Boston band's various styles and attributes, running the gamut between sunny West Coast folk vibes and harder-edged rock fare. Arriving three tumultuous years later,
Break Our Fall is fiery and focused, doubling down on the group's tendency for socially conscious and politically motivated messaging. It's also their first album without bassist and founding member
Pete Heimbold, leaving guitarist
Chadwick Stokes and drummer
Brad Corrigan to carry the band's legacy into its next decade. Fortunately, they do so with aplomb, carving modern-day anthems out of the upheaval of bitter political tension, racial reckoning, climate disaster, and a global pandemic. The album kicks off with one of its highlights in "May We All," a punchy and poignant rocker calling not only for social justice, but forgiveness. There are blunt condemnations of the Trump administration ("Promise Land"), paeans to the plight of immigrant workers ("Second Class Soldier"), and a surprisingly effective ode to beleaguered 1960s basketball star Connie Hawkins ("The Legend of Connie Hawkins"). If injustice is the fuel that keeps
Dispatch engaged, they're running on a full tank. If anything,
Break Our Fall has almost too much to say and might have benefitted from some trimming of its lengthy 15-track sequence. Despite this, there is plenty of energy and passion to go around, making for one of the band's more satisfying releases. ~ Timothy Monger
