Dumptruck Albums (4)
'Lemmings Travel to the Sea'
Release Date 2/27/2001
Tracks 29
Label DeVil in the Woods
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Expanding their guitar roots and moving into the Americana sphere, Dumptruck, led by songwriter and vocalist Seth Tiven, has shaped a contemporary roots rock record nearly 20 years after forming. Having relocated from Boston to Austin, shades of off-center drawl and a loose spin on Americana drives tracks like "Curse" and the guitar screamers "Waste My Time," "Security," and "Faithless" return to the old school of Green on Red and Dream Syndicate. The package includes a bonus CD filled with live material from 1986 and 1988 (the Dumptruck heyday) displaying the band's impeccable taste and foresight in covers: Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and "Idiot Wind," Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," and cult band the Embarrassment's "Sex Drive." Some songs never go out of style -- the same can be said of Dumptruck. ~ Denise Sullivan, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
It's the classic rock & roll story: a talented and scrappy band gradually emerges from a fertile local scene, gets its act thoroughly together over the course of three steadily improving albums, and just as it's ready to make its mark on the wider world, it falls apart. Dumptruck's third album, For the Country, was its last; the core duo of Seth Tiven and Kirk Swan had split up with Swan's departure, and legal troubles would sink the band for good shortly after the album's release. There are harbingers of doom in Tiven's downcast lyrics, but these are his strongest and most well-crafted songs yet; "Island," the faintly Memphis-flavored "Hung Out on a Line," and the country-rock jangle of "Wire" all pack a serious wallop, and the band manages to make good use of Welsh producer Hugh Jones' state-of-the-art studio without coming across as slick or overprocessed. The occasional touches of Hammond organ and pedal steel guitar (that's the legendary B.J. Cole on steel, by the way) give Dumptruck's sound just the right added dimension on songs like "Wire," "Island," and the fine title track. As is the case with most bands that have followed Dumptruck's trajectory, the last album is the best place to start; then work backward to D Is for Dumptruck. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
