D.D Dumbo has risen swiftly through the Australian music scene with a perfect one-man setup. Sporting an enviously exquisite pedalboard fed with bright, round tones from a 12-string Danelectro guitar, there’s no way anyone can be mistaken for the sound Oliver Perry crafts under his stage moniker.

After a spate of stellar shows at Pitchfork Festival, BBC Radio 1 and a list of other high-profile events, Perry took his technical, awe-inspiring loop setup into his horse stable-come-bedroom studio to craft his debut album, Utopia Defeated. Now, the follow-up to his 2014 breakthrough EP Tropical Oceans is ready for the world to hear, packed with beautiful, intricate harmonies and wailing vocal takes.

Clean-cut harmonics announce the intro to leading single ‘Walrus’ while the collection of eclectic guitar and vocal loops roll in to create the first of many lush soundscapes on Utopia Defeated. ‘Walrus’ staggers along with summery guitar notes casually walking up the fretboard while Perry flicks psychedelic cries over the first chorus.

The following track ‘Satan’, which ushered him back into our consciousness earlier this year as lead single, doesn’t concern itself with slowly building its diverse sound, instead compacting the groove-laden composition into a thick wall that hits almost instantly. Perry’s fascination with watery themes continues with the emotive, Jeff Buckley-esque track ‘In The Water’; falsetto vocal riffs are abundant, flying high over a delicate but relentless guitar progression.

Moving deeper into the album, ‘Cortisol’ provides a banger that is ready to be remixed countless times for 2016’s summer. The off-kilter dance beat is further thrown into disarray by jarring notes, highlighting the diversity of tones Perry effortlessly creates with his variety of pedals. Reversing into life, ‘King Franco Picasso’ trudges along with a dirty synth riser shunting the track from intro to chorus before dark brass takes over, driving the song to its climactic end.

‘Toxic City’ helps wind Utopia Defeated towards its close, offering a brief reprieve from the complexity of the compositions prior. Woodwinds complement the soft guitar work as Perry’s subdued vocals float idyllically along, casting visions of clouds lazing above a sun-kissed beach. Finally, the LP closes with ‘Oyster’, sounding like the sister song to Buckley’s version of ‘Lilac Wine’ thanks to a return to the rich falsetto of tracks gone by.

This record showcases just how far D.D Dumbo’s vocals have come since his 2014 emergence, having since written track after incredible track in his hybrid stable bedroom outside Victoria’s sleepy town of Castlemaine. The most interesting part of Utopia Defeated is that Perry spent over two months piecing each song together and, as Perry explains, “there was no loop pedalling on the album at all. It became a new project in a way,” – which opens up the question as to how Perry will go replicating such magnificent compositions when he takes to the live stage. What’s not in question is that Utopia Defeated is a mammoth release from one of Australia’s most talented musicians today.

9 / 10

Utopia Defeated is out today via Liberation/4AD

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