Dummy
Album: do you love the color of the sky?
Release Date: 2026
USA
Dummy was formed out of the ashes of Baltimore, MD dream pop outfit Wildhoney, when guitarists Nathan O’Dell and Joe Trainor teamed up with organist Emma Maatman and drummer Alex Ewell. After self-releasing two EPs (which were handily compiled by Sonic Cathedral), the band dropped their debut full-length, Mandatory Enjoyment, in 2021, which expanded their drone pop to include traces of “‘60s melodicism and ’90s UK noise pop with inspiration from spiritual jazz, Japanese new age, and Italian minimalism.” [More on First Revival]
Lyrics: Full Spectrum Dominance
We’re taking bets on an asterisk
Playing catch with a flash bang
If the picture fits, denounce it
Potemkin World decentralized
The patience of decay
the quiet power of a hillside garden that won’t die
spare no expense
the rarest flowers get plucked from the ground at
Versailles (first sight?)
You wanna reap the seeds we sow
Gonna be no lawn left to mow
You just take anything you like
But you won’t be satisfied til you’re idolized
Counterfeit, immaculate
Slate star turns lead into gold instead
Princes of the blood chain livestock
We’re the key to open every lock
You wanna reap the seeds we sew
Gonna be no lawn left to mow
You just take anything you like
But you won’t be satisfied til you’re idolized
Prima Materia
Tracklist: do you love the color of the sky?
01. April Limousine
02. Alluvial Fan
03. Full Spectrum Dominance
04. Squeaky Wheel
05. Touch the Perfect Speed
06. Song of Mana
07. Omen Globe
08. C.B.B.S.I.M.M.P.W.M.
09. N of 1
10. Heaven’s What You Make of It
About Dummy
Dummy—the Los Angeles-based band of Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, Joe Trainor, and Lance Umble—release “N of 1,” the final single/video from their new album, do you love the color of the sky?, out Friday via Polyvinyl. “I liked the idea of taking glacial guitar drones and cutting ‘em up into a new context of the jungle inspired drums,” says Trainor of the new single. “To me, so much of the record is like the remixed versions of pop songs you’ll never hear.”
do you love the color of the sky? is Dummy’s most politically trenchant record, and yet their most inviting. Breakbeats and the captivating voice of keyboardist Emma belie a sleight hand—as the listener becomes enveloped by Dummy’s unshakable grooves, they’ve subconsciously accrued a vision of a new radical politic. Today’s “N of 1,” for example, discusses how we’ve been conditioned into accepting the surveillance state.
Maatman comments, “‘N of 1’ is a plea to both the proprietors and the more complacent subjects of the ever-encroaching surveillance state. Typically our videos aren’t so direct of a visual representation of the meaning of the song, but I had just gotten it into my head that the zooming action on Street View would go perfectly with the meter and energy of the song, and the rest sort of fell into place after that.”
If 2024’s Free Energy (and its subsequent remix album, Bubbelibrium DLC) evoked the spirit of Madchester and the optimism of the rave, then do you love the color of the sky? couches itself in a lyrical skepticism that recalls the best of post-rock and drone—think Seefeel, Windy and Carl, Laika, or Disco Inferno—while playfully adorned in jubilant pop hues of early Björk, The Sundays, and Madonna’s Ray of Light.
Despite all the allusions to futurism, Dummy are a classic band. Not in the retrofetishist, nostalgia- trapping sense, but in their work ethic and commitment to the music. As Joe recalls of their time since the release of Free Energy, “We toured a lot, around 150 days, and played approximately 113 shows,” with numerous treks around the US and two trips to Europe, “…and on larger stages than ever before,” Alex adds. “Touring has had a huge impact on us and our music.” That is a staggering amount of touring and road tripping, a feat that can only be achieved if you truly believe in your art and the power of music itself. It stands to reason, then, that their latest release has also completely shucked the idea of being recreated cleanly in the live setting.
“Making music shouldn’t be fun.” It’s a haughty claim, but when Dummy jokingly asserts this, it comes from a sentiment of earnestness and true love for the game. The blood, sweat, and tears of ‘putting in the work’ is what propels do you love the color of the sky? to a triumph—a byproduct of shedding skins through live performance. It’s not a vast departure from their discography, unmistakably them, and yet constitutes a creative leap forward which almost sounds effortless from the group. It’s a treat to witness a band this creatively in-tune with themselves, whose experiments and ideas always hit, who, when they describe a concept, actually stick the landing. Maybe the future of music comes with the type of deep self-actualization Dummy possesses.
We aren’t trying to sound like now or the 90s or whatever, we just make what feels new to us.
Joe on making music on their own terms.
For someone just discovering Dummy, how would you describe the band and your music?
Joe – I think anyone who is gonna press play for the first time on our music should know we produce the majority of it ourselves, at home. For this record we sequenced all the beats, majority of the sounds you hear are processed guitars and self sampling. Along with the music the most of the videos, art, merch etc is made in house, its a true diy affair in that regard. As for the music, we’ve called it ambient punk, ambient pop, or ambient rock. Just keep an open mind, let things oscillate between immediacy and subtlety, we play with both pop and avant garde.
Alex – As far as genre, it’s a bit hard to describe, and I usually tailor my answer to the person asking, to connect to their frame of reference. But yeah, we don’t like to color inside the lines, as far as genre goes, so it makes sense.
Going back to the beginning, where did “do you love the color of the sky?” start? Did you have a particular sound in mind, or did it take shape as you went along?
Joe – When we were finishing up Free Energy, Alex n I discovered a bunch of stuff that informed parts of that record but we had barely scratched the surface like Locust, Colin Newman’s album “Bastard”, Transient Waves, Scala, Accelera Deck and more. So we knew even then, that we had so much more to dig into for this record. We wanted to expand on what those bands were doing, which hasn’t really been done that much since. Melding IDM, big beat, down tempo with processed guitars, turning the instrument into more of a sound generator than a thing you jangle on. The few bands that do try and push guitars outside their bounds are heavy, dark and broody, we wanted to counter that and make something beautiful, blissful and earnest.
Emma – We also knew we wanted to let the vocals have some more space to develop, and I spent a lot more time considering the lyrics early on, which I think definitely affected the arrangement of certain songs. We always start with the music first, but before I may be finalizing my lyrics in the studio, on this album we had more time to experiment with the vocals and maybe adjust the song to the vocal where needed, rather than the other way around.
I came across the description of the album as an “anti-zeitgeist record.” What does that phrase mean to you, and how does it connect to the music?
Joe – For us, it means just doing our own thing, being ok with being on our own little island. We often feel like outsiders despite making to some degree pop music. We dont consider what other bands are doing. Indie music is kind of a joke right now, it’s lots of cosplay and nepo shit. We aren’t trying to sound like now or the 90s or whatever, we just make what feels new to us.
Listening to Free Energy and the new album, there’s a noticeable shift in mood. What do you think has changed between the two?
Joe – I don’t really think Free Energy is an optimistic record, I don’t know where that idea comes from, it was a really difficult record to write unlike this one, in which we had enough songs that we left a few on the cutting room floor. What has changed though is things have gotten even worse. We live in a pure hellscape, and the record reflects that reality and takes it head on.
Emma – Yeah, we have always had some darker themes in the lyrics, but this one is I guess slightly heavier overall in terms of subject matter. In terms of what changed since Free Energy: the acceleration the genocide in Gaza, the war in Iran started, the Epstein Files, a global rise in extreme right wing politics, some amount of cultural acceptance for full-blown racism, bigotry and sexism has returned… But I think there’s a sneaky bit of optimism and hope in this record as well (?!?!?)
I wanted to ask about “Full Spectrum Dominance.” How did that song come together, and is there anything listeners might not pick up on at first?
Joe – The song started off as a much more maximalist, but as we wrote, we peeled back the layers to create more dynamics so it wasn’t just on 10 the whole time. I was super inspired by Barnard’s Star and Guitar, I wanted to create cycling riffs. When we were in the studio it was still feeling a little too brutish so we added the tambourine to give it a more fun, Deee-lite kind of feel. I think what you’d miss is that technicolor jubilant vibe underneath the walls of wah and distortion.
Emma – It’s a fairly direct callout to the technocrats who are controlling our society right now, but there’s a message there about us actually holding the ability to control our futures, we don’t need to be beholden to whatever future a few billionaires have decided upon.
One thing I find interesting about the album is how inviting and melodic the music can be, even when the lyrics touch on politics and darker subjects. Is that contrast something you consciously work toward?
Emma – That’s always been a big thing for us, the juxtaposition between more poppy melodies and subversive lyrics.
Joe – For this record, beforehand we discussed themes for the record. We liked the idea of this blissful inviting music having lyrics with more teeth. Post the record coming out, oddly people seem to have a bit of a hard time with the contrast for some odd reason. Not all political music needs to be bashing you over the head with what we are saying, we find that corny, you hear it once, and you get it. We wanna make sure you can dig further into it.
Speaking of influences, what have you both been listening to lately? Do those sounds find their way into your music consciously?
Joe – To me those aren’t different worlds, they are all kind of the same, is Talk Talk not droney, and the OG’s of Post Rock. Windy & Carl are all 3 of those things. My Bloody Valentine is all those things. All these bands inspire us, push us to push ourselves as artists, and not stagnate. Music I’ve been enjoying lately is Tara Clerkin Trio, Kiln, Marine Eyes, Harmony Index and Cold Light.
Emma – I was pretty solely obsessively listening to our own demos at the time we were writing the album! Vocally I just wanted to show more of my natural voice and range than on previous records, and I was really moreso attempting to channel some general shamanic inspiration from all the queen pop divas: Janet, Madonna, Bjork, Sade, Alanis, Fiona, etc. I really just wanted there to be lots of hooks.
Finally, what do you hope people discover or take away from do you love the color of the sky? after spending some time with it?
Joe – My hope is it’s a record you can continue to return to to find new things sonically or lyrically. The production has lots of ear candy, esp if yr listening with headphones. The lyrics also bloom out even for me still, I’m still catching new stuff. And, hopefully look for more music from the past n present that inspired us.
Emma – We’re always trying to make something that people can enjoy listening to over and over. I like hiding things in the art that you might not find until later, things in the lyrics, little special sounds and moments in the songs you may not have noticed before.