G. B. Loon is Devon Dozlaw's solo folk/spoken word project. Devon finally picked up an acoustic guitar a few years ago after time with the "Marching Martian Marshmellotrons" (the Mmmms) and "Shark Brilliant" waned. In the Mmmms, Devon's cryptic and quirky lyrics added another layer to an already puzzling sonic package. With Shark Brilliant he found a home for his comedic side, writing songs exclusively about aquatic life. However, when Devon moved back to the prairies, leaving his Shark Brilliant bandmates behind in England, he decided to simplify the arrangements and give the lyrics more space. With the G. B. Loon project, Devon pairs the dense poetry and lyrics from the Mmmms with the bizarre comedy of the Shark Brilliant songs. G. B. Loon's first LP "Restaurant at the End of the Gloomy Verse" was released last summer, and this week the follow up, "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Solo EP" dropped on bandcamp (soon to be available on other streaming platforms).
"The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Solo EP" (another Douglas Adams pun title) was recorded with the help of Jeffrey Campbell (of the Venus Extraction) during the debilitating snowfall that happened last March. School buses shut down, cars stopped all over the roads in places where their drivers didn't intend for them to stop, and many "in like a lion" jokes were made. Jeff and Devon, owners of small cars, were basically stranded, and since they lived a couple blocks from each other, they decided it was the perfect time to get to work on another collection of Devon's solo songs (as opposed to the songs used with the band G. B. Loon and the Loonies). The plan was for Devon to lay down the acoustic guitar parts and the vocals and Jeff would add extra synth parts and additional sounds to bring the songs to life. Like RATEOTGV, the new EP features a couple tracks of spoken word with sung choruses and some simpler folk songs. "Mad Gab Song," though simple in its arrangement, is comprised entirely of homemade mad gab puzzles, while "Cat Videos" is a tongue in cheek song about the ridiculous things we send each other in 2018. Devon explores memories of being a teenage dirt bag sneaking into yards to jump on trampolines, sets the scene for attending the festival, "This is Not a Love Song", accompanied by French robots and draws similarities between Otzi the man frozen in ice for thousands of years and John Lennon.
Throughout its six tracks, "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Solo EP" shows G. B. Loon championing the weird and wistful over the comedic, creating a distinction between the solo Loon songs and the humorous folk punk of the Loonies. This an album released at the very end of summer, when summer memories are fresh and the water is still warm, but the nights are getting cold and you can't help but think about ice.
