Description

Crash Test Dummies: Brad Roberts (vocals, guitar); Benjamin Darvill (harmonica, melodica, Theremin); Dan Roberts (bass); Mitch Dorge (drums, percussion, digital stuff); Ellen Reid (background vocals, keyboards).
Additional personnel: Murray Pulver (guitar).
Producers: Brad Roberts, Mitch Dorge, Dan Roberts.
All songs written by Brad Roberts.
On their third album, Crash Test Dummies explore some familiarly quirky territory. They’re led there by singer-songwriter Brad Roberts’ strange, childlike perspective and his unmistakable, deep, precisely articulated baritone. Roberts takes his inspiration from the most mundane of objects and situations, including the worm in a tequila bottle (“A Worm’s Life”), a loose tooth (“He Liked to Feel It”) and, in “There Are Many Dangers,” some familiar childhood hazards: “When it’s very, very cold out/Do not put your tongue/On cold metal things, for example:/Stop signs!” The combination of a child’s-eye view and a sharply intelligent and dry sense of humor works well once again for Crash Test Dummies. A WORM’S LIFE is heavier on the guitars than usual, adding a slightly harder edge to the band’s eclectic, alternative folk sound.