Dez Dare’s fourth album, A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin., is a jagged, wild, and glorious beast. It growls and shouts, but it also speaks clearly. It’s playful and chaotic yet serious and controlled. It’s the work of an artist who knows exactly what he’s doing and isn’t afraid to take the listener on a strange, funny, and brilliant journey. Dez Dare, an Australian-born psych-punk artist based in Brighton, continues to surprise. He doesn’t sit still. He moves forward with confidence and intention. This recent album is louder, more direct, and immediate. But it’s also smarter and sharper. Every sound, beat, and moment feels calculated and chaotic, a balancing act that only an artist like Dez Dare can maintain. He brings together a bold mixture of genres. There’s acid psych-punk, with its sprawling textures and burning fuzz. There’s art-punk, as weird and pointed as anything Devo ever gave us. There are synth detours that recall The Stranglers in their prime. And at its core, a rhythmic swagger that wouldn’t feel out of place next to the raw, unfiltered energy of Viagra Boys. It’s a conversation with influence, and Dare steers that conversation toward a fresh, unique, exciting, and entertaining world crafted by such an exceptional artist.
The album is tight, punchy, and unrelenting. It hits with short bursts, but the impact lasts long after the last notes and beats fade. Songs come fast, and they leave traces, hooks, phrases, and rhythms that stick. But Dez Dare never indulges his listeners. He’s not writing for the lowest common denominator. He’s not simplifying to sell. Instead, he’s refining his chaos. He’s making it accessible without losing his soul and that’s the rare feature on the contemporary psych-punk scene. There is wit here. A lot of it. But it’s not a novelty. It’s satire, irony, and observation. He looks at the absurdity of modern life and reflects it back through buzzing guitars, twitchy beats, and half-grinned vocal jabs. The lyrics are sharp and the delivery is even sharper. And yet, for all its noise and playfulness, this album is serious work. You can hear the care and thought behind every tone and texture. The production is crisp but gritty, a perfect middle ground. Nothing feels accidental. Even when the sound is distorted, the vision is more than clear. This record is a step forward. Dez Dare has always been adventurous, but here he refines that adventure and focuses on it. He pushes his sound into new territory, but without leaving behind the fire that made his earlier work so vital. It’s a mature record, but not a tamed one. It is wild in all the right ways.
The title alone, A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin., is a kind of thesis. It’s surreal, it’s ridiculous, but it also speaks to something grand and final. There’s a sense of the cosmic, the absurd scale of modern life. The music reflects this too. It’s not just punk for punk’s sake. It’s punk with a microscope and a megaphone. It zooms in on the absurdities and shouts about them loudly with distortion. There’s also structure. Underneath the fuzz, underneath the noise, there is form. The rhythm section is tight, often mechanical but never lifeless. The synths and guitars shred and lead. There is a dialogue between the parts, a deliberate architecture crafted by a brilliant songwriter and musician. This is what elevates the album. It’s not just raw energy, but shaped direct chaos that immediately grabs you by the collar and refuses to let go. Dez Dare’s work stands out due to his refusal to play by those genre rules. He borrows from many places, but he doesn’t stay long in any one. He moves quickly and confidently while experimenting. There’s no fear here. And that sense of freedom is infectious. It pulls the listener in. It makes you want to go along for the ride, even when you’re not sure where it’s headed. The vocals are another high point. They are rough-edged but articulate. They carry attitude, character, and thought. Dez Dare doesn’t sing in a traditional sense, but he communicates better than most who do. His voice is full of texture, sometimes sneering, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes absurd but always present in the mix.
The pacing is one of the greatest strengths of this material. It moves fast, but not too fast. It gives you enough time to catch the rhythm before it shifts again. There’s a constant sense of motion. It never settles, but it also never loses you. The songs are short, punchy, and efficient. They hit, they burn, they vanish, but they leave a mark. This record is not background music, as it demands your utmost attention. It asks you to listen, think, laugh, and feel. It challenges, but it doesn’t alienate. It’s entertaining without being easy, smart without being smug, and wild without being sloppy. That’s a rare balance in today’s noisy musical world, but Dez Dare managed to achieve it with such precision and finesse. Dez Dare deserves more attention. Not because he’s chasing it, but because he’s earned it. His work is fearless, original, and deeply human. A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin. is his best yet, not because it’s louder or stranger, but because it is clearer, more confident, and more complete. This is what happens when an artist trusts himself, follows his vision, and makes noise with purpose. The result is an album that feels fun and important at the same time. Dez Dare has made a record that invites us to stop scrolling, stop muting, and start listening. It’s a psych-punk masterpiece you should immediately put on your music radar, so head over to his Bandcamp page and order this gem on vinyl.
Thoughts Words Action 