Alternative indie rock; (retro) Britpop; (semi-) orchestral cabaret pop; (depressive) pop noir; chamber pop; baroque pop:
critics have applied these, and many more genre/sub-genre descriptives, to The Dears, a “band” from Montreal, or rather a core duo with an often changing line-up of musicians, from their inception in 1995 spawning their first album released in 2000 (in Canada only), to their seventh album released in 2017 (in addition to a couple of early EP’s and a Canadian compilation of outtakes).

Murray Lightburn is the Dears' founder, frontman, primary songwriter (and maudlin lyricist), multi-instrumentalist, and primary producer.

The Dears have been heralded and/or vilified as derivative of a rather distinguished line-up of British bands, often exaggerating the resemblance of Murray Lightburn’s voice to that of Morrissey’s and Damon Alborn’s.

Some British acts to whom The Dears have been described as sounding like are The Smiths, The Smiths' frontman as solo artist, Morrissey, Blur (fronted by the prolific Damon Alborn), Pulp, London Suede, OK-Computer-era Radiohead, The Auteurs, The Divine Comedy, Echo & the Bunnymen, etc., etc. etc… .

The Dears' musical affinities have been also aligned with an intriguing variety of non-British acts, such as Burt Bacharach (particularly on what is arguably The Dears' most distinguished album, 2003’s No Cities Left), Ben Folds, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, and Marvin Gaye.

The variety of acts cited by critics in the context of their curious assessments of The Dears seems dubiously derivative in and of themselves, the product of a critical bandwagon effect. A listener may conclude, in line with the band’s steady followers, whose numbers exceed that of mere “cult” fan status (arguably: a “cult” has no numeric definition, of course, but the band appears to have effortlessly jumped from indie label to indie label), that the band has its own unique signature sound, transcending the various musician line-ups and labels, remaining very much “The Dears”, with or without lush orchestral instrumentation.

Murray Lightburn (who happens to be black, relevant only with regard to some of his lyrics, such as the song “Missiles”, from 2008’s album Missiles, and, well, the fact that critics refer to him as “the Black Morrissey”) has enthusiastically cited The Smiths as an influence, to whom he was introduced in the early 90’s, only after being told he sounded like Morrissey.

However, in an interview with the publication “Canadian Audiophile” in 2008,
Murray reacted to the question regarding his attitude to the “countless” Morrissey and Damon Alborn vocal comparisons with a brief quip:

absolutely fucking bored to death.

Murray has also cited the controversial French singer Serge Gainsbourg, whose music (French pop/rock, jazz, baroque pop, cabaret, etc. etc.) spanned from 1959 to the 1980’s (born in 1928, he died in early 1991), as a major musical influence. Although this may be considered an obscure off-beat influence, let’s not forget Murray is from Montreal, a French-Canadian city.

Keyboardist and sometimes backup singer Natalia Yanchak (along with some duets with Murray) is the other half of The Dears' core duo. Natalia and Murray married in 2005. (They spawned a daughter, their dearest Neptune Lightburn.)

In 2004, The Dears seemed poised for mega-stardom upon the second album’s release (and the first European & North American release), the critically acclaimed (or at least, the band’s most critically acclaimed album) No Cities Left.

In 2003, before releasing their own breakthrough albums, Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene actually opened for The Dears.

So why did The Dears fail to gain the level of popularity achieved by, say, Montreal’s Arcade Fire?
In her book about The Dears, “The Dears (lost in the plot)” (Bibliophonic), Canadian journalist Lorraine Carpenter has this to say:

The impact of business dealings on a band’s image, and the perception of momentum or decline can (sadly) propel a band’s rise, fall or coast. In those crucial early years, The Dears were never signed to a hip label, while Arcade Fire and … Wolf Parade were snapped up by Merge and Sub Pop–without these signings, a lot less ink would’ve been spilled over the ‘Montreal scene’. And during that crucial period … from 2005-2008, the band’s near implosion left them bruised, inspiring a series of bluesy interviews and even bluesier songs. It’s as if their doomsday fantasies were a self-fulfilling prophecy.

After the above conclusion, the author does wax-on about The Dears' continued “longevity and drive”, with remarks which may be construed as the band’s refusal to simply “sell-out”.

Indeed, that snapped-up band Wolf Parade are now quite defunct (whether the parade was canceled, or the wolves killed? This author has no idea, having never heard of them until reading the aforementioned book … )

But The Dears, as of 2017, show no signs of being “defunct” anytime soon. Luckily, it’s not as if they were ever The Deer; no shots fatally wounded the band. 2017 marks their fourth album release on Dangerbird Records, a label that appears to have proven their devotion to the band …