Customer Reviews

We Are Science

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been following Dot's work since One Dove and was floored when she finally released a solo album. As much as I wanted to like "Afterglow", it never really impressed me. The lyrics were too simplistic and it was under or over-produced (depending on your taste). With the exception of "Mo Pop" and a track or two, it was just nice to see, but disappointing to hear.

With the few years she's had between "Afterglow" and "We Are Science" , it's obvious she has developed as a musician. I saw an excellent video interview with Annie Nightengale on the net where she showed a genuine appreciation for various forms of electronic music and mentions that she has been dj'ing in Glasgow. The exposure has paid off...from the first track, an infectious bassline from the title track brings back old school underground memories. Namely One Dove, with Dot's vocal stylings. Unlike "Afterglow", just about every track begins with a breakbeat-ish rhythm and is gradually layered by hypnotic vocals and psychadelic synthesizer sounds. Ironically, it seems like Dot was more concerned with programming and composing this time round, merely adding her wonderful voice to everything as an afterthought. Kind of like a director also starring in their own movie.

Dot's evolution is like a reverse from Hooverphonic, who've gone from hypnotic perfection to melodic fluff. I'd recommend this album highly, though I feel she still has plenty of room to grow as an artist. I can't wait to see what Dot has coming up next. One Dove lives!

Wow..This is one of these albums that reminds me how many "unknown gems" are out there..."We are science" is an album that imposes itself on you. It starts out with three beautiful electronic tracks, full of atmosperic beats reminiscent of an 80s
soundscape , continues to the middle where it lays back to some very emotional ballads and finishes off in bombastic intimidating style just like it started.
It grabbed my attention from the very first track not only because the music has something "full" about it but also because there is something sinister that lays in the background, it is indeed a dark album. The vocalist is a very special singer. A gorgeous deep voice that makes the whole mix irresistible.
It seems this LP will go unknown, reserved for real music-lovers and insiders and that is a pity. It's like a book that you cant let go once you started. And it made me want to find out more about this woman's previous album and her band before. That says a lot. Great, simply great...

When I first heard Dot Allison I was absolutely floored by her voice, lyrics, and a sound that was like no other. Coming from a small town I had never heard a person that could move me so much. I waited for One Dove to come out with another album but then I heard they broke up so I waited for another album. I am not disappointed by this album and I don't think anyone else would ever be but I feel she has a lot to offer lyrically if not sound wise. Her voice will take you somewhere you have never been before but with this album it's almost like a tease where she holds your hand but never really brings you there. Its only a matter of time before she comes out with another album like her first. It would be a treat to the US if she ever would tour here!

I bought Dot Allison's solo album "Afterglow" a few years ago. I must confess that it really didn't do anything for me. It had a few choice tracks but otherwise didn't stand out amidst my large cd collection. I found a used copy of her latest cd "We Are Science" today in the used cd bins. I must say that I like this album a lot more than her first cd. Although it has its flaws like the remix tracks of "We're Only Silence" and "Substance" (the better remixed track of the two), overall I find the cd much more compelling than what I heard on "Afterglow". The music on "We Are Science" is a pleasant mix of techno, pop, and rock. When I first read the tracklist on the back of the cd, I originally assumed that "I Think I Love You" was a cover of the very cheesy Partridge family song. Thankfully it was not. I found this cd to have some electroclash influences to it which I didn't mind considering the fact that I am not into this so-called 'electro-clash' movement. The best track on this cd I thought was "Make It Happen". I wasn't too wild about "Strung Out" with the electric guitars. Overall "We Are Science" is an enjoyable album. Not one of the best cds I have heard but it isn't bad.

Dot Allison's second album, We Are Science, is much icier than her debut, Afterglow, in no doubt aided by the electro vibes from Two Lone Swordsmen and Beaumont Hannant that permeate the album. "We're Only Science" is cool and shiny, like an ice cap, while "Performance" puts her ethereal vocals over a glacial landscape. "Make It Happen" and "Strung Out" add more of a rock element to the proceedings, the latter especially. "Lover" sounds like a country-western in outer space. Lovely and dreamy.

That's how I felt like when listening to this album. Each song takes you to a different journey and to a different place. An improved follow-up to her first album Afterglow, Dot is surely maturing into the artist that she was meant to be. It opens with the eerie song "We're Only Science", which has with it the feeling that you are entering a high-security vault in a laboratory to meet a brave new world government or megacorp creation. The song "Substance" would for make an excellent backdrop to a shoot-out scene in an action series. It's got a dangerous workload caustic feel to it. And my favorite is the song "You Can Be Replaced". This cold-hearted lyric brings out the spy in you. It's hard to listen to it without feeling at least a little bit on the sneaky side. I always felt the the television series "La Femme Nikita" could have done a better job at selecting which from Dot's songs to play. This choices on this album are certainly better than the ones that they used from the first.

Dot Allison's second album is something of a surprise, partly because I didn't know she was making one and because of the album itself, and because of how much I like it. It has links with her debut, Afterglow, but it's very different too. I could see someone liking one album but not the other. Me, I like both. We Are Science has a techno, retro-'80s feel to it, and some of the electronic noises annoy me a little, but are less unsettling with repeated listenings. There are a few songs like "We're Only Science" that eschew traditional songwriting and instead repeat the title words like a mantra. So the album begins with a vocalization (an "oh" or "ah") followed by a driving beat, and the first words come nearly a minute and a half into the song. There are some other lyrics further in, but you can't understand them (at least I can't). Other songs have a more traditional verse-refrain structure, and one near the end even reminds me of something from Mazzy Star's So Tonight That I Might See. The US release comes with a video for "Strung Out" and remixes of 2 tracks that are actually very good and add something to the songs.

This is, without question, one of 2002's best releases.
After trying a pleasing, but more low-key pop sound for her first solo album, Afterglow, Dot decides to transfer to a more synthesized form of trippy expression.
All the songs carry a murky weight, but this serves to make them more intriguing as delightfully added effects and bleeps and buzzes are interspersed in the mix for hypnotic yet captivating results.
Though all the songs are outstanding, including the menacing, yet detachedly trippy opener, here are some of the main standouts, to me:

Substance - Big beats, thumping with unstoppable dancability, and Dot's voice hypnotically relating her quest for...(the title ;)...and seamlessly crooning the ultra-cool melody to carry the whole song into your brain for repeated listening.

Performance - A long sort of epically soothing yet stimulating environment of sound textures; a sort of counterpart to "Morning Sun" from Afterglow, only to an even more sophisticated level.

Strung Out - A rocking, yet mystically and reserved display of the true coolness of Allison's talents. In my opinion, it's one of the finest pop moments of the year, apart from this album as a whole.

I Think I Love You - This song manages to get away with the repetition of this single line throughout the song, over an irresistibly charged vox arrangement. Pure bliss.

These are not, necessarily the best, but some I would like to innitially reccomend!

This is a step, most definitely in the right direction for Dot Allison. I am curious how she will elaborate on it in the future.

Original, yet truly trip-hop.

Highly reccomended.

Dot Allison has been a vocalist for the likes of "One Dove", "Death in Vegas" & guested with acts such as "Massive Attack". "We're only science" opens with the slinky pulsating electro that "Goldfrapp" used to impressive effect on her "Black Cherry" album, with throbbing synthesizers, ambitious melody & stylish string sections. Yet Allison has far more experimental potential than just performing a Electronic album, and "Strung Out", "Make it Happen" are 80's self-referential genius with Allison (thanks to ambitious production), given enough reign to breathe life into each track, embellishing each with the kind of performances that have seen her a regular vocalist for many musicians, but the highlight for me, will undoubtedly be the 3 minute staggering acoustic slide guitar performance of "Wishing Stone" that calls on nothing (apart from some rudimentary guitar strumming), to elevate Allison's voice into the premier league.

much better than the kitschy dance pop of afterglow (which was good, don't get me wrong). i guess a lot of people don't get this, but this is a gorgeous album of soothing, distant ambient, electro infused dance rhythms, and stirring alterna rock with chunky, dark production. it takes repeated listening to reveal the subtleties that lie within, but it's more than worthwhile time spent. probably among the best five albums of 2002. those telling dot to get back on track are missing the point. eerily distant and sexy at the same time, i hope dot travels even further in this direction on her next album. i can't wait.