One of the most challenging tasks for any modern band must be the ability to facilitate a balance between their own musical creativity and the influence of past artists that have inspired them. Despite the breakthrough success of their latest album We All Belong, Philly-based quintet Dr. Dog have endured more than a few bites of criticism for the way their work ignores this necessary equilibrium, heavily deriving the eccentricities of the ‘60s pop rock era and early psychedelica into their music. Not that the band gives a damn one way or the other. As if they get a personal kick out of the polarized responses that surface as a result of their backwards work, Dr. Dog is a band that believes there is progress to be found somewhere in regression.

With songwriters Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman at the helm, one of We All Belong’s best tracks is “My Old Ways.” With the album’s reel-to-reel twenty-four-track providing a soulfully hazy reverb, the song greets the ears with a twinkling piano loop and several organ/cymbal booms. As acoustics move alongside woodblock clicks and washboard scrubbing, it’s McMicken’s gawky wailing that brings a sly wink of fun to the arrangement. “I don’t want to go back to my old ways / Cheatin’ and creepin’ around” he sings as though he were trying to convince you that underneath he’s really not such a bad guy. Like some bumbling Sisyphus, McMicken makes his vocal hook sound as though he really were falling, stumbling back into some habit or lifestyle that constantly trips him up. As a cluster of background harmonies culminate around him during the song’s final, infectious refrains, the band seems to reach one of its most natural moments on the record, one that waves fondly at the old pop masters.

While the Beatles and Brian Wilson are clear influences throughout We All Belong, it is the love of the Band that Dr. Dog showcases on “Alaska.” As Leaman takes over lead vocals this time around, ambling at a lethargic yet purposeful pace, the song’s soulful lean comes right out of Music From Big Pink. What is most endearing about this particular track however, is its ability to feel so loose and yet so organized. With the background filled with noodling guitar riffs, three-part vocal harmonies, and a classic-rock guitar solo, “Alaska” really sounds like a group of guys cramped together in some small space, giving each other quick signal changes as they jam, piecing together a finished product.

The last song on We Along Belong is the track “I Hope There’s Love.” Backed by the minimalist drone of an organ throughout, McMicken’s voice comes through like some mourning ghost in the machine with a message of hope. Though there are many other songs on the album that certainly stand out in their own right, it is perhaps in this song that most listeners may find the band’s underlying attempt to bring the modern record out of its digitally sterilized form and back into something rough and imperfect. In the end it’s this effort alone that may be all you need to fully appreciate Dr. Dog.

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