Dean Station Reviewed by Indie-Music.com!

Review by Todd Beemis, September 9, 2006

According to the biography thoughtfully supplied by Albuquerque-based Dean Station with their eponymous album, the two principals -- Mr. Levi Dean and Ms. Amanda Trainer -- were to have been married in May of this year.

Assuming this happened, allow me to deliver to them a belated wedding gift: a candid and hard-hitting review of their music.

I loved this record.

If the future of their marriage is anything like the present sweet interaction of their voices on "Dean Station," then they better get ready to die old, happy and together.

Oh my goodness, where to begin? Well how about the delivery... the production is fantastic. The voices, mandolin, guitar -- hell, even a melodica -- jump right in a do their thing, all of them highlighted when they need to stand out and part of a fluid mix when they need to be part of the team. Far too many indie records sound like they were recorded inside a an empty Chock Full-O-Nuts can. Not this one.

Mr. Dean quite rightly name checks Robert Zimmerman as an influence and on rare occasions he gets a little too Bobby for my taste, but I swear it's only once or twice. The rest of the time, his sound ranges from old red hound dog bayin' to sweet country crooner to George Harrison and ultimately to what we can only call Levi Dean.

The (hopefully, by now) lady of the house is, like a treasured ingredient, used more sparingly. "Detonation" features her voice prominently in soliloquy, as does the album's closer, "Go Ahead," but its strength is shown throughout the record by its capacity to bend and form to Levi Dean's lead vocals. In fact, Trainer is a soft coating regularly affixed to Dean's rougher delivery. It's a winning combination.

Bugs Bunny may claim to have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, but on their new record, Dean Station have made all the right moves.