Sneak of the Week: Dots Will Echo, “Sandra”

A NJ power-pop trio + a New Age titan = the ‘90s’ weirdest love song.

“Sandra” lulls you into such a blissful state with its pure power-pop perfection that if you aren’t paying attention, you might scarcely even notice it’s one of the quirkiest love songs you’re likely to come across. In an alternate universe, it gave New Jersey-based Dots Will Echo a worldwide smash. In our actual universe, it earned them a hit only in Scandinavia.

At the outset, it’s important to define our Dots. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Dots Will Echo began as a three-ring circus including singer/guitarist Nick Berry, bassist Bob Albanese, and drummer Steve Meltzer. They subsequently slimmed down to a duo of Berry and drummer Kurt Biroc before the frontman soldiered on alone under the DWE banner. (He’s still carrying the flame forward and keeping the name alive today; look it up on Bandcamp, Facebook, et al.).

The original Dots became NY/NJ cult faves with a combination of the aforementioned power-pop bona fides and an absurdist sense of humor. The latter emerged not only in their lyrics, but in their madcap onstage antics, which included Berry singing and playing from inside a lawn-sized trash bag, battering his guitar mid-song with a fistful of fresh carrots, and Albanese showering the crowd with thick stacks of his day-job business cards like postmodern confetti. Adding further to the quirk factor, Albanese played all his bass lines on a keytar.

“Sandra” represents the trio-era Dots at their best. It first appeared in 1986 on the band’s self-titled DIY debut EP, but the band retooled it when their big break arrived. In 1990, Will Ackerman—famous for helping to popularize New Age music in the ‘80s with his label Windham Hill—started High Street Records as an outlet for vocal-based music. The label was mostly populated by folk-flavored singer/songwriters, but Ackerman snapped up Dots Will Echo as well, releasing their full-length debut (again self-titled) in ‘91.

“Sandra” was just too good for the band to let it linger in obscurity, so a re-recorded version was prominently placed on their ‘91 LP. There are no bells and whistles on the track, just a straightforward guitar/bass/drums arrangement sounding punchy, clear, and up-close. Berry’s inviting tenor sketches out what might at first seem like a classic lonely-guy pop song scenario.

But when the chorus kicks in, and Berry’s croon starts soaring, surrounded by the stainless-steel harmonies of his bandmates, you’re catapulted so expertly into the stratosphere that you might miss the rest of the narrative. The song’s namesake turns out to be a face on a wanted poster at the post office, and our sad sack narrator is so starved for a love connection that he’s besotted with her on sight.

The lyrical eccentricities and pop-savvy dynamics continue apace. The more ludicrous our protagonist’s inner dialogue becomes, the more lushly romantic Berry’s voice gets. All the while, the track lifts you increasingly higher upon its giddy swirl of sweet-but-sardonic pop majesty. It’s the stuff weird dreams are made of.

-Jim Allen

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