Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - “It’s a Corporate World” Album Review

If their name isn’t enough to grab your attention, then Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.’s finely crafted, jangly electro pop debut album will surely turn heads.

“It’s a Corporate World” is the first full-length work from duo Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein.

It’s full of lush ethereal pop with a wide range of influences, from folksy harmonies to light hip-hop beats. While it’s difficult to compare them to any one group, the band call to mind fellow electro acts like Passion Pit and Jonsi. And though there are no songs that pay homage to their namesake (one of the most famous NASCAR racers around), one can take comfort by the fact that the duo often performs in race gear.

“Morning Thought” is the opening track and is the perfect blend for what the rest of the album holds. It’s got light hip hop samplings, but turns into a lighter, Passion Pit-esque jam with touches of electric guitar akin to Ratatat. Though many moments on the album are a lot sweeter and place more emphasis on vocal harmonies, “Morning Thought” is a wonderful upbeat pop jam.

Standout tracks from the album are in the quieter moments; DE Jr. Jr. proves that they’re much more capable of sweet folksy-pop than the jumbled electric pop music they shove to the forefront. Simple songs like “Skeletons” take a little bit of tambourine, percussion and slide that, under doubled up vocals, make a sweet electro-folk song.

“If It Wasn’t You” is also a standout track on the album. It’s a slower number, with gentle acoustics that put the vocals out on the forefront, rather than burying them in synths and keyboards, like the rest of the album has a tendency to do. There’s a Beach Boys-esque quality to the dreamy harmonic lilts of the song. It’s a pity more of the album wasn’t packed with songs like this, because it seems like Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. has a stronger grasp on harmonies than on the cataclysmic effect of too many electronic effects.

The folksy sensibility comes into play with the whistle-heavy, sing-along song “Simple Girl.” The simple tap-tap instrumentals and twinkling xylophones, coupled with the occasional electric guitar riff make for a scrumptious folk-pop number.

The downside to “It’s a Corporate World” is it seems to be doing too much in one album. The band seems to have taken influence from so many different musical stylings that they struggle to set themselves apart. They would do better to stick with the sparse electro-folk melodies they had crafted, than going down the route of bands like Hot Chip and Passion Pit and creating jangly dance pop. The album breaches a wide range of genres, and lacks a direct focus on the music itself, almost as if it were trying to cast a wider net of fans of electronic music.

After listening to the whole album, you find yourself more mesmerized by the lush electronic arrangements and sweet vocal harmonies than the actual lyrics or meaning of the song.

But at least you still leave the album mesmerized by something.