Chicago’s Dream Version return today with their sophomore album Fight Fair—out now on 12″ vinyl and digital formats! The band’s aptly titled debut Beginners was lauded for tackling adulthood in an equally satirical and heartfelt way (it’s pretty damn catchy too).
Fight Fair finds the band even more focused on reality—with their fingers on the pulse of the countless injustices in the world. More accurately, Fight Fair is about being outwardly idle when you are inwardly devoted to making change. The result is a detailed account of the psychological slapstick that turns a wannabe protester into a mere frustrated bystander.
Songwriter and frontman Alec Jensen summed it up more eloquently:
Fight Fair is half successful protest songs and half failed protest songs. The failed protest songs are about why having a high standard for fighting fair often prevents fighting at all. In the process of writing the album, I considered a number of factors in my brain that have kept me from fighting worthwhile battles and have therefore made me a bystander.
Lyrically, these songs are incredibly poignant—in the most sarcastic tone possible. Completely “woke” to his own privileged lifestyle, Jensen writes with an incredible honesty that will really appeal to white people and probably turn a lot of them off at the same time.
Musically, these songs are catchy as hell. The title track has a driving bass line that’s accentuated by some ’80s sounding keys, chime-y guitar licks, and vocal melodies that would make The Supremes blush. Songs like “Blinders” have a stripped-down, almost Gary Numan-esque vibe, that is incredibly bouncy and fun. The song’s vocal refrain sums up the album pretty well—”I’ll put my blinders on / If you put your blinders on too”. Here’s my favorite verse:
Black are my coffee beans
Fair trade from Guatemala (mala)
White is my whole milk
From a farm near Aurora (rora)
And I get ‘em mixed
In my latte from the corner
Buy this album today. It’s got the sharp wit of a satirical cable show with the added bonus that you can dance to it. It’ll help you find your way through these troubled times, or not, either way it’s a nice distraction in the mean time.
Order the album now via bandcamp or pick up a copy in person tomorrow, July 8th at Lincoln Hall w/ Marrow, Soft Candy, & The Baby Magic. Get your tickets now while they’re still $10, the show starts at 8pm is 18+ RSVP
Upcoming Tour Dates
7/08 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall (Album Release Party)
7/09 Cincinnati, OH @ Urban Artifact Brewing
7/10 Athens, GA @ The World Famous
7/11 Wilmington, NC @ Juggling Gypsy
7/12 Washington DC @ Slash Run
7/13 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
7/14 Manhattan, NY @ The Delancey
7/15 Brooklyn, NY @ The Gutter
7/17 Montreal, QB @ Brasserie Beaubien
7/18 Toronto, ON @ D-Beatstro
7/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Smiling Moose
7/21 Hamtramck, MI @ Trixie’s
8/09 St/ Louis, MO @ Foam
8/11 Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
8/12 Norman, OK @ Red Brick Bar