Previous Biography
DCG, although a young band, is already getting rave reviews for their debut EP, Two Tired Hearts, released in late 2010.
For example:
-"Two Tired Hearts" was named #1 EP of 2010, and the song "Acid Wash" #13 of top 200 songs of 2010 (www.snobsmusic.net)
- "The duo crafts absolutely beautiful music. Blouin's vocals are clean, elegant, and inviting. Meanwhile, Ratliff's guitar work is as much a product of his Texas background as it is lazy '90's acoustic college rock. They'll convince you to lean back and relax just a moment before shaking you awake with how greatly they pull everything together." Ben Conoley, Polaris Music Prize Juror
- Their debut EP got a 9 out of 10 rating in a recent review that said: "Two Tired Hearts is a fantastic, fresh record that deserves a place on more than a few end of year top 10 lists."
A Montreal journalist wrote the following bio of DCG: "The bittersweet music of Montreal’s Domestic Crisis Group (or "DCG") touches on the troubles of everyday life, from the holes in the fabric of the American dream to the dregs of love and the mending of broken hearts. Hailing from two of North America’s music capitals, Montreal, Quebec, and Fort Worth, Texas, musicians and songwriters Genevieve Blouin and Dane Ratliff met under a pair of antlers at an Old Montreal watering hole in late 2008. She was at a corporate PR firm, and he was an environmental lawyer who’d just relocated to Canada from Europe. Moreover, both had personal lives in disarray, and both were eager musicians without a gig between them, despite having spent years honing their skills as songwriters: Ratliff, a classically trained guitarist who'd penned a local hit in Texas and Blouin a singer who's worked with the likes of Gordon Raphael (The Strokes) and James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins). With a shared love of an eclectic range of music from plaintive folk to Jazz crooner standards and indie rock, the duo developed a straightforward style that reconciles roots and pop, and takes an honest approach to lyricism that sidesteps the clichés of earnest confessionals and the pretentious pitfalls of florid poetry. Despite the cynicism that can grow after disappointments in love and life, there’s hope in Domestic Crisis Group's lyrics and music. This is effectively reflected in “The Breaks,” a song bemoaning unrealized dreams based on unrealistic expectations, but this gives way to hope for new love waiting in the wings. As emotive acoustic guitar transitions to electric, drums kick the song up from melancholy to curious optimism; an arrangement that mirrors the narrative. Throughout DCG's music, Blouin’s voice is warm and strong, yet with a fragile world-weary dreaminess, and Ratliff's guitar blankets it in perfect harmony and delicate phrasing. DCG has a style which is neither retro nor modern. Whether in romance or in song, they strive for timelessness, knowing that true art lasts longer than any hard times they describe. In so doing, their music is optimistic, but in the real sense of the word."
The video for "the Breaks" is a good introduction to DCG's style and sound: http://www.vimeo.com/8872127
They have caught the eyes and ears of music industry professionals, and some well-established musicians have praised their songwriting. They were a first round pick for the Canadian version of SXSW, Canadian Music Fest 2011.
You Rock
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Two Tired Hearts
Domestic Crisis Group
Self-Released
