Dummy’s inconvenient truths

When I speak to Dummy, it’s the morning after a rigorous rehearsal session and a feast supplied by Taco Bell gift cards; such is the glamorous rock ’n’ roll lifestyle in the year 2026. “We’re in a band; we sleep in!” jokes guitarist Joe Trainor, but he hits on the fact that this sort of everyday politics informs Dummy’s latest release, do you love the color of the sky?. Take opener “April Limousine”, for instance. In one breath, keyboardist and vocalist Emma Maatman sings of evil thriving on fatigue and our collective complicity in the climate crisis. In the next, she names plants and insects as she homes in on the beautiful mundanity of nature. It is this tension between the macro and micro, between capital-P politics and our everyday realities, that drives the band’s third album. “When I was writing the lyrics, I was in my political echo chamber,” Maatman explains. “I couldn’t stop thinking about this stuff. I really think it’s important to make art of the moment, especially in important cultural times like this. American politics is completely unhinged – all of this crazy shit is happening all at once – so I was just writing about all of it. It’s all in there a little bit.” Sign...