The Residents – Doctor Dark Review

Longevity like this is a free pass to make anything. Or rather, it should be. Too many longstanding creatives have been sidelined, stopped, or sent to the far reaches of creative society, and for what? Because their ambition or purpose does not match with this company or that conglomerate. Long live The Residents, then, and take on Doctor Dark as one of those rare moments of inspired, out-there bits of creativity in a straight-shooting market. A roaring experimental rock achievement which feels like a close encounter with the punk tones of the past, the feverish non-label noise rock which bled on every independent stage across the country. Commodifying this is of no interest to The Residents, whose work on Doctor Dark is a fine blur of instrumental excess and volatile vocals. They wish to unnerve, to challenge the perceptions we have, and they succeed. 

Operatic momentum is what carries Doctor Dark. An instrumentally incredible experience which can, as is the case for the percussion break on White Guys With Guns, overwhelm the senses. Consider the gruesome cover, the violence and grim nature heard in those maggots and weapon-wielding wildcards and contrast it with the subtle and often beautiful instrumental sections. Its orchestra is in fine form, its inclusion of rock operatic tone on Maggot Remembers into Tension is truly powerful work. Disgusting lyrics, the slime and sex infested writing is a puerile counter to the sophistication heard in those plucked strings and the vibrato which controls the tone so well. Keeping this tone up for over an hour is a bold gamble, and it pays off for Doctor Dark. The Residents’ longevity is dependent more on their constant reinvention, their dedication to a sound they want, irrespective of public appeal. This aids them well here, an album destined to be a niche but brilliant oddity in their discography.  

Production additions are what makes the difference for Doctor Dark. These are instrumental tones and high points the band has never truly experimented with before, not in this grand form. News clippings on Contemplation are grisly, uncomfortable adaptations of the real world. But how are we comfortable watching and listening to these stories of disgust, yet are so moved by it when music is added? Tone is everything for Doctor Dark, the repetition of guts and the Halloween-like feel of Survived or the spoken-word horror from the eponymous scientist himself. As it drifts off into the smoke-filled, late-1960s aesthetics of Hammer horror films, The Residents begin to re-assess the longform audio storytelling which comes with albums.  

Experimentation from the long-standing group should be no surprise, and yet it feels so fresh and thrilling. Edwin Outwater and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music must be paid their dues, their work is what brings Doctor Dark to life. Latter album tracks like A Choice? and Ol’ Man River are as vibrant as they are sinister. The world-building does not stop. The Residents are in exceptional form. Spoken word storytelling mixed with a few routes of artistic interpretation, the world around us not so much collapsing in but the ugly faces and snap of medical ethics, just another story in a spiralling country. Gunfire, screams and the horrors of medical malpractice all compile into a listening experience sure to make you sick to your stomach, but also strikes a sincere chord with its hopes of salvation from vanity.