Dex Romweber Duo’s Is That You In The Blue? could be the most bizarre album to come out all year. Yes, it is only August, hence the qualifying ‘could be’ as opposed to ‘is’, and yes, bizarre is relative to the individual. Perhaps that opening statement should be crossed out, replaced by ‘this could be the most bizarre album that operates within the mainstream music market whilst still subverting the listener’s preconceptions of a well worn genre’. But that’s not quite as pithy, is it?

Dexter Romweber has been playing music for a very long time – professionally since 1985, in fact. Over these years he seems to have perfected… whatever it is that he does. This is the first thing that will strike the listener; what is this exactly? Opening track, “Jungle Drums” sounds for all the world like 1950s rockabilly, but it’s much rougher, harder, and far more frantic, Romweber’s gruff voice straining through an intentionally muddy mix. It’s great. Then suddenly the rug is pulled out from our collective feet as the track gives way to “The Death of Me”, a sultry, desert soaked slice of Americana. It’s jarring, but it actually makes sense. Then “Gurdjieff Girl” starts. The frenetic instrumental seems to blend the previous two styles. You instantly get a feel of what the record is about, and yet you can never pin it down.

This continues across Is That You In The Blue?, and also leads to a glaring problem. Yes, the album is bizarre, and yes it’s interesting, but over the course of thirty-eight minutes the bizarre becomes routine. Every left turn is expected, and leads to a road that album has been down before. Perhaps it would be better to pull over and look at a map for sights we have yet to see? Sadly this never happens.

Final Words: An intriguing album that buckles under the weight of its own experimentation.