Dispatch playing Free at Noon this Friday and Tower Theater October 9th

When a band breaks up and then chooses to reunite the results are usually skewed. Either it’s “too different”, and we become nostalgic over all of their old hits or it’s a total win and we’re so grateful to have their music back in our lives again. The Boston-based trio, Dispatch have disbanded and reunited quite a few times. After their farewell Boston concert in 2004 entitled “The Last Dispatch”, they regrouped in 2007 for three benefit shows in Madison Square Garden and again in 2009 in Washington D.C. at the request of Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister. But their new album Circles Around the Sun, self-released on their label Bomber Records, is the first for Chad Stokes, Brad Corrigan, and Francis Heimbold since Who Are We Living For? in 2000. Although nothing will replace their sophomore album Bang, Bang, which included rockin’ reggae tracks like “The General,””Two Coins” and the title track. I say “rockin’ reggae” lightly, because Dispatch is the type of band that no matter how you describe them, whether as indie rock or reggae or folk, they’re simply just good. They have the ability to mold their sound after whatever their musical passion is at the moment. In the new release, the title track gives a definite head start to the rest of the album; it’s danceable, it’s feel-good, it’s a song that you can listen to over and over until you’re sick of it. The 10-track release is as eclectic as ever; there are banjos, various percussion instruments, mixed harmonies, and bountiful beats. Billboard had this to say:

Moving away from its trademark acoustic-funk, “Circles Around the Sun” sounds fuller and more plugged-in while maintaining the trio’s seamless harmonies, ragged edges and breezy attitude. But hearing those intertwined voices, the album is definitely and defiantly Dispatch.

Watch the music video for “Circles Around the Sun” below and get excited for their U.S. tour which includes a stop at the Tower Theater on October 9th with Good Old War. Tickets to that show are available here. But the best news is that Dispatch will be playing XPN’s Free at Noon this Friday, August 24th. RSVP on xpn.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op9S1i7nZNE