Post-emo pop-punk outfit, Less Miserable took expression to the next level in their 2022 standout single, The Dentist. The visceral track explores the intricacies of depression by making a series of proclamations that everyone who has ever felt inadequacy loom along with the bark of the black dog will relate to.
With killer lines “the sun on my face feels like a cheap insult that I can’t ignore” and the chorus hook “If you want me to see a dentist, you’ll have to kick me in the teeth, I can’t ask for help unless it is an emergency” to a backdrop of progressively off-kilter post-hardcore rancour, The Dentist will break your heart through resonance. Before mending it through the affirmation that you’re not alone in the insecurities you feel in loving relationships and the tendency to neglect self-care when you don’t see yourself as something worth investing in
Without a hint of hyperbole, I’ve just found a new favourite artist in the Alberta-based outfit who specialises in self-deprecating anthems made to drink cheap beer to and shout along to in sweaty basements. It’s almost enough to make me buy a plane ticket to Calgary to party with the candour-gifted lyrical visionaries.
The Dentist is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.
Review by Amelia Vandergast