D.D Dumbo – Utopia Defeated

★★★★

Castlemaine’s D.D Dumbo – aka Oliver Hugh Perry – is a singular talent: a folk musician with a pop sensibility, he speaks in myths and fables. Having traversed the Tropical Oceans of his breakthrough EP, now he alights on the shores of paradise. Utopia Defeated, his debut album, is a stunning requiem for a dying earth. It’s a strange place, populated by witches, monster kings, and a menagerie of critters and creepy-crawlies. There are microcosms in these songs, little worlds with ecosystems of their own, disguised as bridges, breakdowns, and codas. Perry thinks his utopia is worth preserving, but the atmosphere’s getting hotter and the sea levels are rising. On the slippery and sleazy lead single ‘Satan,’ he sings of “The looming deadline / Murder-suicide.” In fact, environmental cataclysms mark the surface of the album like cairns on a winding forest path. ‘The deep blue sea / Surely someday it’s going to swallow me,” Perry sings on penultimate track ‘Brother.’ Soon, the heralding report of a trumpet sounds. Apparently Gabriel’s come early.