Dollhouse: I Hate You Don't Leave Me 7"

2nd EP by this NYC band on Toxic State.

Our take: Toxic State Records brings us the second 7” from this New York City punk band, and I think it may take many people by surprise. Dollhouse sounds like a classic Toxic State band in a lot of ways: their predilection for pogo and shuffle beats, strained vocals, the artsy vibe, and lyrics and imagery that view childhood through a sinister lens. But while I think of New York punk bands as favoring primitive recordings, I Hate You Don’t Leave Me sounds clear and heavy, with a level of studio polish that reminds me of 90s pop-punk and melodic hardcore. The guitar riffs lean in that direction too. While the melodic lead guitar on “Be Nice to Me (Part II)” wouldn’t have been out of place in a Sad Boys song, the title track’s big guitar hook sounds like something you’d hear on one of Screeching Weasel’s Fat Wreck-era LPs. Some of you may interpret that as a slight, but I love those records, and I think “I Hate You Don’t Leave Me” is a great song too. Even the vocals, which are pretty limited in terms of melody, find patterns that make you want to sing along on the title track and “So Hollow.” As someone who owns just about every record by Crazy Spirit and Dawn of Humans AND Screeching Weasel and Pegboy, I think this is a great—and very unique—record.