Delusions of Adequacy review of Dolour 7" From the Bellingham Zine "Delusions of Adequacy" June 2002:

"Dolour is a fantastic indie pop band from the Seattle, WA area, which is not too far 
away from the home of that other indie band we have all come to love in recent
 times, Death Cab for Cutie. Most of Dolour's talent can be attributed to its
mastermind, Shane Tutmarc who is the only original member of the band, which
 formed approximately four years ago. Dolour originally released their debut full
length on Sonic Boom Records ( who have also released DCFC material) and are
 currently working on writing new songs for their follow-up disc. Their newest 7"
helps to demonstrate a newer more experimental sound that will be present on
 their second full length. While many may not have heard of these guys, they've
certainly made quite an impression on the local Bellingham and Seattle scene.
 Hopefully, with each additional release they will gain more recognition and a larger
 fanbase outside of the state of Washington and turn on new fans to their catchy
 brand of indie pop. This 7" marks the band's first appearance on West of January
 Records, a new and upcoming indie label out of Bellingham, WA that is putting
 forth a slew talented indie rock and indie pop bands in recent days. Side A features
 the song "Iceland", truly one of the catchiest songs I've heard in the past year. It
 starts out with an analog synth motif that comes in with a distorted guitar and
 eventually develops into a full force number pounding out hooks left and right. The
chorus is filled with Shane's sweet and saddened vocals. While the lyrics of the
song are slightly humorous with references to the movie Titanic ("We reenacted the
 death scene from Titanic / on your last day here I was Jack / and you were 
pretending to cry"), and the singer songwriter Bjork ("She told everyone she was
 related to Bjork") the overall subject of the song is about the loss of love. Despite
 the depressing subject matter the song remains to sound surprisingly happy and
 upbeat and develops into a wonderfully melodic and memorable melody.

 
Side B features the song "The Ballad", which starts out with a simple synth part
 along with sad and melancholy vocals that are quite reminiscent of early to mid
 DCFC. Dolour again present another sad song that is viewed through the lens of a
 kaleidoscope that sounds surprisingly uplifting. It's interesting how again the
music can sound upbeat while the lyrics are surprisingly dark. "I'm so done with
 you - I can't even feel my fingers / I would rather die than live thru this hell again".
 The song develops a bit more adding a few other layers but mostly remains very
 calm and serene taking the listener on a cathartic journey through all of the pain
 relationships can bring forth. 


Overall, I'm quite impressed with Dolour and this 7" will definitely get a lot of
 repeated listens on my turntable. If you're a fan of indie pop ala DCFC and are
 looking to find some newer obscure and talented bands to listen to, I might
 suggest checking these guys out."