Finding dada

Dada’s back.

For a lot of you reading this, nothing more beyond those two words is needed. Dada is a band with a phenomenal cult following, and that following has waited six long years for new stuff. The band is unfortunately still best known amongst the general public for "Dizz Knee Land," their quirky novelty song from 1992, which just reinforces one of the cardinal rules of career longevity: never lead with a novelty song. Dada never did another tune like it, and four unjustly ignored albums later, they broke up. But they left those four albums, and every one of them is worth tracking down and owning, particularly Puzzle and El Subliminoso.

Phil, Joie & Michael of dada

After the split, guitarist Michael Gurley and drummer Phil Leavitt formed Butterfly Jones, a very-nearly-Dada band that made one swell album, Napalm Springs. (Bassist Joie Calio made a solo album as well, The Complications of Glitter.) Dada fans ate it up, but wouldn’t let the band be, and in 2003 they got back together, released a live record, and got to work on How to Be Found, the just-released fifth Dada album.

And let me say this right up front. I liked Butterfly Jones, and I liked Calio’s solo record, but when these three guys get together in a room and play, they produce sounds that, individually, they simply can’t match. It’s like magic. The parts are all great on their own – Michael Gurley remains one of a mere handful of guitarists with a signature sound, for example – but together, there’s something else, some binding, unseen Dada-force that creates an audible synergy. Napalm Springs was a nifty pop record with some great guitar work. How to Be Found is a Dada record, and there’s just no comparison.

At its core, Dada is a three-piece rock band, and their best work has always arisen from a stripped-down, jam-style feel. But there’s more, always – Gurley and Calio harmonize just about everything, like the blues-rock Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell, and their melodies are often sweetly surprising. Gurley uses his guitar like a paintbrush, jumping from the crunch of "Nothing Like You" to the clean, blissful sound of "Guitar Girl." Some of these songs are propelled by stomping rock riffs, like "It’s All Mine," and some waft along on smoky atmosphere, like the title track.

But the real attraction of How to Be Found is something that can’t be put into words. It’s indefinable, but it happens every time these three guys play together. No matter how trite and cliched the songs are – and some, like "I Wish You Were Here Now," are pretty trite and cliched – the trio makes them sound glittering and fresh. I can’t understand it, but I’ve heard Dada together and members of Dada separately, and it’s the collective band energy, no doubt. In other hands, this would be a good-to-very-good rock and roll album, but in these six hands, it’s somehow more. Even a southern rock number like "Blue Girl" just takes flight when played by these guys.

I guess destiny is a difficult thing to understand, but when it stares you in the face, you just have to give in. Gurley, Calio and Leavitt were born to play together, and this new Dada album makes that perfectly clear. Just listen to the guitar lines and harmonies on "My Life Could Be Different."It’s better than it has any right to be – what would have been a decent Butterfly Jones song is a mesmerizing Dada one. Perhaps these three will never find a musical situation to equal this one, and perhaps they had to split up for a few years to become certain of that. And maybe they don’t get it any more than I do. Like most things directed by fate, you just have to accept it and enjoy it.

So, in summary, Dada’s back. Get the new album here.