Band benefits from working with producer

Philadelphia rock band Dr. Dog has made a splash in the national music scene in recent years as it has gained increasing media exposure — and rightfully so.

For shame · Dr. Dog’s sixth full length album, Shame, Shame, was streamed over the Internet for free in the week leading up to its release. - Photo courtesy of Anti- Records

With a hard work ethic, the band members are no strangers to life on the road. Supporting the release of its new album, Shame, Shame, Dr. Dog embarked on its most recent world tour, with concerts scheduled at a variety of venues from the beautiful mountains of Aspen, Colo., to the cosmopolitan city of Barcelona, Spain — all for the sake of sharing its new collection of wonderfully crafted songs.

In recording its new album, the five-piece made a big leap forward as it shook up its usual album-making process.

For the first time, the musicians decided to forgo recording in their home studio — where they crafted all five of their previous albums — and hired an outside producer to help their group take the next step in their natural evolution.

Producer Rob Schnapf — who has worked previously with Beck and Elliott Smith — helped Dr. Dog create an album full of intricate harmonies and soaring melodies that firmly establishes the band as one of today’s most promising rock outfits.

Shame, Shame — made available to listeners a week early through National Public Radio’s free online stream — doesn’t stray off too far from the gritty and timeless sound the band has come to be associated with.

With clever arrangements and detailed harmonies, the band’s exceptional songwriting places it somewhere in between the genres of indie rock and baroque pop.

While the group has drawn comparisons to The Band and the Beach Boys, the men of Dr. Dog admit that their broad influences also extend out to include ’90s lo-fi band Pavement and experimental songwriter R. Stevie Moore.

Interestingly, the new album draws up a contradiction in its tone. While the lyrical content deals with the melancholy themes of gloom and despondency, the shining harmonies and cordial piano riffs convey a sense of warmth and hope.

In the spirit of the album, bassist Toby Leaman wrote “Station,” a song that carries with it a strong sense of longing and home sickness.

“It’s the only song I’ve ever written about touring or anything like that,” Leaman said in a statement published on the band’s website. “It’s also about how my wife and I bought a place in Wilmington, Del., and it worked out great for us, but we both miss Philly. It’s also about leaving to go on tour, leaving over and over again.”

The meticulous orchestration on “Station” consists of slide guitars, delayed drums and warm harmonies yet never sounds too busy.

Instead, all the instrumental elements support the essence of the song. Capturing raw emotions, this well-crafted song is built on strong instrumental foundations. With its sluggishly cozy quality, the song sounds like a porch-side jam session on a lazy Sunday morning.

Not surprisingly, the new album finds a large source of inspiration in the band’s hometown of Philadelphia.

Guitarist Scott McMicken wrote “Shadow People” — just one of the album’s many highlights — about living in a unique West Philadelphia neighborhood full of flamboyant personalities. Overwhelmed by the extensive wackiness of the community’s characters, McMicken sings It’s the right night for the wrong company / There ain’t nothing here to look at / Move along.

“Philly has been such a big part of our lives, and I feel like on this record it finally took over and made its way into our music,” McMicken said on the website. “There’s a line that says, I stole a bike from the Second Mile and saw a band play in the basement. The Second Mile is this thrift around the corner from my house, and there’s so many basement shows in West Philly, like noisy, artsy bands.”

The brittle vocals on the track are reminiscent of Wayne Coyne’s characteristic vocal qualities on the Flaming Lips’ famous song “She Don’t Use Jelly.” Yet the playfully interweaving piano and guitar lines along with the bright vocal harmonies make the track sound distinctly unique.

While Dr. Dog has been putting out records since 1999, Shame, Shame makes it evident that it doesn’t intend to stop anytime soon.

Like a breath of fresh air, Dr. Dog’s musical sensibilities rejuvenate the listener.

In today’s mainstream rock, it’s rare to find a five-piece band for which the instrumentation complements itself without clashing.

This makes it just that much more fun to listen to Dr. Dog, a band that cleverly uses the tools it has on hand to craft compositionally thick yet catchy songs.