dios

Time is the best measure of an artwork's success: Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1853 and became a cause célèbre; Moby Dick sank without a trace two years before that, but we all know which is on the syllabus these days. Perhaps it's still too soon to tell, really, which classic rock bands are going the way of Harriet Beecher Stowe, but a quick reading of the anxiety of influence among contemporary practitioners points to Brian Wilson as the '60s' Melville. Ireland's Thrills is just one of the vaunted artists California dreaming lately; newcomers dios do the Dubliners one better by hailing from Wilson's hometown of Hawthorne, California, and two better by running with the inventive spirit of the Beach Boys as much as they do their pet sounds. Woozy and gorgeous, dios recombine the familiar melodic DNA with off-kilter arrangements that send songs into unexpected orbit or shoot them down from the stars with a heavy dose of twang. And the underlying grit of tracks such as "You'll Get Yours" keeps dios safe from accusations that the band is sentimentalizing the Beach Boys' sound. Sure, that old shoreline sunshine washes over everything, but the landscape soaking up the rays is definitely new.