With "This Is My Ship" it could be that Dartz have released the best alternative rock album since Maximo Parks "A Certain Trigger" back in 2005. The Teesside trio take the best of bands like The Futureheads and Bloc Party (both bands first albums in particular) and inform them with more far reaching influences that include Devo and The Talking Heads to create their own unique mix and a heady brew it is indeed.

From the pounding drums that introduce "Network! Network! Network!" to the throbbing bass of "The Lives Of Authors" this is a cracking collection of songs that aren't afraid to plough an individual furrow and its clear to see why the band are gaining plaudits from such high profile sources as BBC 6's Steve Lamacq.

There's a nice mix of tempos, usually within the songs, to maintain an energetic feel to the record the off kilter rhythms and time changes whilst maintaining interest dynamically mean it would be virtually impossible to do anything other than tap your foot along to these tunes though! I think "Teaching Me To Dance" is definitely an ironic title (although the funky bass certainly gets the hips moving, the offbeat drums and dissonant trumpet soon put paid to that though!).
 
Dartz apparently evolved from a joke by William and Phillip and are, clearly, in no way related to the 70's rock and roll act of similar moniker. I do think that this lot would put an interesting take on "Duke Of Earl" though! Despite their humourous inception they've quickly garnered some serious and significant live exposure from shows alongside such a diverse range of acts as Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and the aforementioned Futureheads during 2006 and are currently out on the road on their own headlining tour and I would urge you to get along and see them as if they can pull off this record live then a good show is in store.

Highlights for me change on every listen but consistently the more rounded, melodic feel of first single "Once, Twice, Again!" and the Gang Of Four-esqe chanting and spiky riffing of "Prego Triangolos" and the driving full band combination of insistent drums, pounding bass and arpeggiated guitar in "Laser Eyes" (the last minute and a half of this song is a full band outro and really displays their power) all find me hitting repeat on a regular basis and it looks like Dartz have set the high watermark for alternative rock in 2007, it'll take an exceptional album to top this in the genre that's for sure.

Let us know your views on 'This Is My Ship'

Track List

Network! Network! Network!
A Simple Hypothetical
Once, Twice, Again!
Cold Holidays
Prego Triangolos
Laser Eyes
St. Petersburg
Harbour
Documents
Fantastic Apparatus
Teaching Me To Dance
The Lives Of Authors 

 Line Up

William Anderson - Bass/Vocals
Henry Carden - Guitar
Philip Maughan - Drums/Vocals