Record Review // At Mission Dolores "Last Night Outside Her Apartment" (Factotum Cassettes & Oddities)

$20 CAD //
https://factotumco.bandcamp.com/album/last-night-outside-her-apartment //

While there are some definite feelings of something you would hear on the radio during this record, At Mission Dolores somehow manages to pull pieces from various aspects of rock music to form their own sound.  At first listen, it's a little bit challenging but you can say "Oh! I hear a bit of that" at times and sight some influences, but the further you get into this record and the more times you listen to it, the more you will end up just hearing it as a smooth, mellow type of rock (with a little bit of funk) that can only be described as At Mission Dolores. 

One of the first influences I pull out of these songs is how it starts off a little bit trippy like Typhoon.  There is a slower -gaze quality to these songs, as they never really get fast like punk rock but they never truly slow down either; they just remain steady.    There is a bit of funk which reminds me of someone I can't place now but might come back and update later and yet also a little TMBG.   There's that cool Brian Setzer riff and then organs as well.    Acoustics and organs on "Before The Rain" can make me think of The Wallflowers, but the more I hear the song the more it just develops into something else.

"Four", which is the fourth song, is a slower but then kicks in and is really the first time I feel like At Mission Dolores just builds into their own sound and it's also my favorite track on this album.    There is a little bit of that island life like Chris Issak on "Still Life" and then the next song takes on a different type of ocean sound as I feel it's more like the Beach Boys.  In some odd way, I can even hear Two Gallants in here but the more I listen the more that notion fades away.

The guitar riff on "Natural Hero" just sings and "White Williams" takes on a bit of rambling.  There's this vocal part throughout the record which you might at first compare with someone on the radio, but that only proves that these songs should be on the radio.   The music, as it slow and distorted, reminds me a bit of later aged Green Day, which is also good, as it takes us right up until that last song and just kind of fades out.