“Said and Done” by Dog Park.
Howdy Wilmington, welcome back to the Port City Experiment. Here for the last time in this month-long celebration of Pride to bring you our latest Song of the Week offering. Back from a three and half year hiatus and ready to establish themselves in the sonic waves of Wilmington, we bring you the fur-ocious trio of Dog Park, and their single “Said and Done.”
Review and Exposition
Today I want to talk about voices. There are multitudinous avenues to be explored in the realm of voices before even a word slips from one’s mouth and emits an audible noise. In the written tradition, an author looks to find their unique look on life and focus on its applications within characters in the crafting of a story or novel. A poet looks to transmit the breadth of the human experience within stanzas and lines, hoping to reverberate their thoughts to other souls and elicit something from within. Writers, authors, any soul who jots down a piece of themself into the physical world really, is seeking to explore the response, from within and from the world around them, that their voice creates. The beauty of human creation, as it extends into the musical world in which we find ourselves in this here and now, is the ability for musicians to discover and craft a voice from their being. A voice is thrown into a microphone at the whim of vocal cords, an accompanying voice expresses themselves through the strings of a well-loved guitar. For the trio of Dog Park, their final voice sits in the traditional rhythmic section of a stage, on a short stool in the back, bleeding their voice through the steady hum of the drums.
“Said and Done” is quick to introduce the three voices forming the band known as Dog Park. The relaxed tone induced by Cat Quinn on bass guitar paired with the staccato snare stick work from Michael Costagliola on the drums helps to drive this song into the introduction of Julia Latter’s soft musing and intrusive voice. Latter’s voice dances across each syllable, the peaks and valleys of her pitch juxtapose with each line end and dictate the direction the listener is taken. The shifts that take place within the acts of this song are strongly propelled by the way Latter is able to convey a state of mind through the use of her voice.
The first verse details the difficulties associated with attempting to view someone else’s world through their lens: “The world through your window/ Is not what I want it to be.” The essential act of understanding another, in hopes of a furthered connection, has been described as putting yourself in someone’s shoes. Dog Park explores the window of the mind instead, not attempting to live another’s experiences but simply to view those experiences and come to an understanding of the elicited response. Though an important step in the pathways to understanding, efforts to “try and make sense” are far too often elusive without a shared willingness between both parties to intimately empathize with one another. Without this empathy, disconnection gives way to doubt and the overarching feeling of isolation,“Do you know me/ Do you know my name.” The tonal shift that occurs between the more upbeat, driven verses and into the slowed, dejected chorus exacts a desperation on part of the storyteller that would stem from continual failed efforts. Such desperation is not always alleviated by lines of communication and in the end the dialogue concludes with the acknowledgement that what must be said, is said, and what is done, is done.
After the first listen (and subsequent constant replaying) of “Said and Done,” the desire to grapple with the foundations and utilization of one’s voice settled into my mind, leaving a series of questions to help me guide my own voice. Questions of the role one’s voice serves in belonging to oneself and the distance between what is lost and gained by its addition into the worldly voice permeate the song. The meandering range of Latter’s voice, in combination with harmonies from Cat Quinn, serve as an example of the ways voices meld together to become one. The crafting of collective voices expresses the spaces where individuals become common, united through retelling of shared experiences. The voices we all present are a part of a deeper, layered undertaking in the formation of oneself. It is both the pinnacle of expression, the conclusion of thought as it is transferred from within yourself to another more open and visible space. But as we all eventually retreat back within ourselves, left with what was given from our last offering to the communal sound; we retrace and redraw. We come back to ourselves with a renewed understanding of where and who we are.
What’s Next
Dog Park are back together for the foreseeable future, releasing both “Said and Done” alongside “ Trust Fall” near the beginning of this year. They have several shows planned for the end of June (6/30 at Barzarre) and beginning of July (7/1 again at Barzarre and 7/2 at Varnish for Summer Slam). We wish them the best of what’s to come and are anxiously awaiting more releases from Dog Park.
Pride Till The End of Time
We are four days from the conclusion of the international celebration of LQBTQ+ Pride Month. The establishment of Pride started after the police raid of the Stonewall Inn in June of 1969, a safe space for the queer community of Greenwich Village. The response that culminated in the Stonewall Riot was the spark that ignited the Gay Rights Movement and the continuation of a decades-long struggle against violence and suppression of the Queer community.
We wish to celebrate those who have dedicated themselves in the effort for Rights and Freedoms long withheld by systems seeking the erasure of Queer voices. We wish to empower those in the Queer community looking to transmit their voice as part of a self-actualizing movement, providing an outlet for expression in the music world and beyond. We wish to celebrate Pride to the utmost possibility of the human spirit. The realization of the constant violence and aims of suppression levied against Queer individuals, communities, and ideologies necessitates advocacy and participation in the movement seeking to rebuild this world into one that chooses Love and Liberation for all.
“We have to do it because we can no longer stay invisible. We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are. We have to show the world that we are numerous. There are many of us out there.” —Sylvia Rivera, member of the Drag and Trans communities, participant in the Stonewall Riots, and community organizer of STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) alongside Marsha P. Johnson. May she rest in power as we honor and are guided by her commitment.
Ben “Danger” Matthews | PCE
Chief Word Person
The Port City Experiment 