3 out of 5

Label: 54’40 or Fight!

Producer: David Barbe (engineer, mixing)

Originally released before ‘Belle’ but when reissued by 54’40 put out on second according to their cat. numbers, you could read ‘The Big Nothing’ either way – as a toned down version of their other 54’40 release, and thus making sense as an earlier incarnation, or as a more patient version of the same… making it make sense as a later work.  Despite the first two tracks on the disc making a much huger impact than any of the quick cuts on ‘Belle’ – the slow breakout rock of ‘Headless’ and then the slam-bang take of ‘The Girl Who Lives in a Bubble,’ the album has trouble finding an identity thereafter, flip-flopping between slow and fast songs but never quite achieving the smack upside the head of what would follow.  Dan Dixon still had a nice lyrical stride, though, crafting lines that make sense but aren’t too obvious one way or another and so leave room for emotional interpretation – make it a sad song, make it an angry song, make it personal, make it general.  This is part of the flavoring that keeps Dropsonic from just falling into the glut of Zeppelin-esque rockers a la Wolfmother, where the lyrics just go off into cosmic zone and don’t really make too much of a connection… meaning there’s no doubt of ‘sonic being a band and you can feel them grooving together on every song.

That being said, perhaps producer David Barbe’s history with noisier, mashier sounding groups like Sugar informed most of ‘Nothing’s composite sound – even on later tracks like ‘The Tough Guy’ and ‘Sleepwalking’ – that again sprinkle in some amazing explosions of emotion and guitar, with handclaps and guitar noodling diddled into the background, it comes across as something of a wash overall.  So there’s the sense that those initial tracks stick out only because they’re the initial tracks, and had the sequence been shuffled any which way, the new leaders would’ve been the standouts.

Which means that all of this is quality rock.  And any given pairing of songs will generally yield one seven minute exploration of space and crooning and then a rocker, both variations on the pummeling of ‘Belle’ and so, taken in that bite size, more satisfying.  But ‘Belle’ wins out overall as grabbing your attention through and through, whereas ‘Nothing’s notability wears off pretty quick.