A lot can be said about Dr. Dog and their new record, We All Belong, but upon looking at pictures of the young ones, it became obvious that their true talent lies within their beards. Some scruffy, some succulent, some standard-fare — Dr. Dog owns a wizardry apparent in the growth of their facial hair. This is a wizardry commonly kept by musical forest animals…such talents can be found throughout various lore. A mountain goat grows a beard for many reasons. The members of Dr. Dog grow them for one — to rock out with. Beards of strength and endurance with hairs of harmonious brotherhood sprouting from their upper lip made We All Belong. Park The Van Records then released it.

So I recommend to play their record and listen to the craft of the beard. It wails then buoys then skips across a pond like an angular stone. It champions the right to stand on the soapbox and detail, in a low fidelity manner, the intricacies of preaching proper pop to an audience of unraveled punks, frisbeed grillers and all types of Best Buy-gift-card-toting youts. They should listen on headphones and/or in used convertible cars. Assuming kids still do this, — they should write “Dr. Dog Rulez” in Wite-Out on the back of their book bags and surround it by 1-inch buttons. No explanation will be necessary because Dr. Dog is on YouTube, and everyone knows about YouTube.

The record really proves where experience can lend a hand. After showing a modest step forward with their Easy Beat disc a few years back, the boys truly stepped into the spotlight after mucho touring and shaking many hands with the younger demographics. I think it’s a toss up for me — the harmonies, the delicate volume knob, or the moments of church-going soul that all make the record worthwhile. I want to listen to it on a boat, dance, and electric slide into a lake. A lot of the songs could sound good underwater too. This is not strictly above ground music.

End note: drummer Juston Sterns does not have a beard.