Dead Dads Club by Dead Dads Club

Dead Dads Club Dead Dads Club

53
ChoruScore
5 reviews
Jan 23, 2026
Release Date
Fiction Records – Dead Dads Club
Label

Dead Dads Club's Dead Dads Club arrives as a confessional indie rock statement that channels grief into combustible, live-ready songs and quiet moments of repair. Across five professional reviews the record earned a 53.4/100 consensus score, a reflection of critics divided between praise for its emotional candor and reservations about uneven execution. Critics consistently point to a handful of standout tracks as the album's clearest proofs of intent and craft.

Reviewers consistently praised the muscular immediacy of “Don’t Blame the Son for the Sins of the Father” and the urgent jolts of “Goosebumps”, while “Need You So Bad”, “Running Out Of Gas” and “That’s Life” recur as emotional anchors. NME and DIY emphasize songs built to be turned up loud and played live, noting strong hooks and production; Far Out and The Skinny highlight the record's shifts from dry acoustic tenderness to amped aggression and brooding pop textures, citing influences from Fontaines D.C. and The Cure. The consensus finds the best songs on Dead Dads Club where lyrical vulnerability meets compositional focus, producing catharsis rather than cathartic clutter.

At the same time some critics register uneven pacing and a sense that the record's sonic variety can undermine cohesion, which helps explain the mixed critical reception. For readers asking whether Dead Dads Club is worth hearing, the answer rests on appetite: those drawn to resilient, emotionally raw indie rock and live-ready anthems will find must-listen moments, while others may hear a debut still discovering its most consistent form. Below, the full reviews unpack where the album succeeds and where it strains against its ambitions.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

That's Life

1 mention

"Standout track: ‘That’s Life’"
Far Out Magazine
2

Running Out Of Gas

3 mentions

"a memory of rattled parental arguments at the core of ‘Running Out of Gas’"
New Musical Express (NME)
3

Humming Wires

4 mentions

"Alongside the prowling underbelly of ‘Humming Wires’, they’re some of the record’s best moments"
New Musical Express (NME)
Standout track: ‘That’s Life’
F
Far Out Magazine
about "That's Life"
Read full review
1 mention
90% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

It's Only Just Begun

3 mentions
75
02:58
2

Volatile Child

4 mentions
84
03:25
3

Humming Wires

4 mentions
92
04:03
4

Goosebumps

2 mentions
85
03:49
5

Junkyard Radiator

2 mentions
69
03:34
6

Running Out Of Gas

3 mentions
92
03:32
7

That's Life

1 mention
100
04:10
8

Don’t Blame the Son for the Sins of the Father

3 mentions
90
02:38
9

Need This Around

1 mention
25
03:12
10

Hospital Pillow

1 mention
01:44
11

Need You So Bad

3 mentions
88
03:49

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What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 4 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

In her measured, enthusiastic voice Lisa Wright argues that Chilli Jesson's Dead Dads Club finds its best tracks in muscular, immediate moments like “Don’t Blame The Son For The Sins Of The Father” and “Goosebumps”, songs that are "designed to be turned up loud and played live". She notes the record balances raw subject matter with confident, vibrant music, pointing to opener “It’s Only Just Begun” and closer “Need You So Bad” as emotional anchors. Wright keeps the tone appreciative and specific, praising production and hooks while insisting these are songs that stand up outside the concept. The result is a narrative-driven debut where the best songs - loud, grizzled and euphoric - make the album feel like a regained musical trajectory for Jesson.

Key Points

  • The best song moments are loud, live-ready tracks like "Don’t Blame The Son For The Sins Of The Father" that pair punchy production with emotional heft.
  • The album’s core strengths are confident songwriting, varied textures, and production that turns personal grief into anthemic indie rock.

Themes

grief fatherhood resilience confessional indie rock live-ready production

Critic's Take

Chilli Jesson’s Dead Dads Club finds its clearest moments in songs like “That’s Life” and “Running Out Of Gas”, where melody and blunt emotion collide into catharsis. The review’s voice sticks to measured admiration, noting the record’s shifts from dry acoustic tenderness to amped aggression and why the best songs on Dead Dads Club feel expansive yet intimate. Jesson’s lyricism and chord work make tracks such as “It’s Only Just Begun” and “Junkyard Radiator” quietly authoritative, while “Humming Wires” and “Goosebumps” provide jolts of urgency. Overall, the best tracks on Dead Dads Club are those that balance rawness with compositional craft, promising cathartic payoff.

Key Points

  • The standout song is ‘That’s Life’ because the reviewer explicitly labels it the standout and ties it to the album’s melodic strengths.
  • The album’s core strength is its mix of blunt emotional lyricism and dynamic arrangements that shift between intimate acoustic and amped aggression.

Themes

grief catharsis emotional vulnerability indie nostalgia energy shifts

Critic's Take

Dead Dads Club's self-titled record turns grief into catharsis, and the review puts particular weight behind songs like “Volatile Child” and “Need You So Bad”. The writer praises the move from the indie swagger of “Volatile Child” to the ominous electro of “Humming Wires”, and highlights a tender, scrappy “Running Out Of Gas” that evokes Conor Oberst at his most heartbreaking. By the time the heady chorus of closing number “Need You So Bad” takes off, it is described as imbued with a real sense of healing and closure. This narrative keeps the reviewer's conversational, observant tone while answering which are the best tracks on Dead Dads Club.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Need You So Bad", is praised for a heady closing chorus that delivers healing and closure.
  • The album's core strengths are its emotional catharsis and surprising sonic variety, from indie swagger to ominous electro.

Themes

grief catharsis healing sonic variety collaboration

Critic's Take

Dead Dads Club's self-titled debut reads like a long-awaited comeback, and the best tracks show why. On Dead Dads Club the immediate thrills come from “Volatile Child”, which is positioned as the record's ignition, and the brooding “Humming Wires” channels that pent-up, Elliott Smith-tinged ache. The sprawling “Don’t Blame the Son for the Sins of the Father” is flagged as a must-listen too, folding Fontaines-style heft into poppier Cure influences. These are the songs most likely to answer searches for the best songs on Dead Dads Club and best tracks on Dead Dads Club, delivered in the review's observant, slightly rueful tone.

Key Points

  • Volatile Child is the standout because it is described as the moment "it all kicks off", providing the record's momentum.
  • The album's core strengths are its fusion of Fontaines D.C. muscularity with brooding, Cure-adjacent pop and introspective songwriting.

Themes

return from obscurity brooding pop influence of Fontaines D.C. and The Cure brooding introspection