The Unexamined Life

VINYL FORMAT. The Unexamined Life compares oddly with most of the Dicks' later work. The record is probably more focused than those which followed, but focused on its own eeriness -- the quasi-psychedelic folk vibe has more in common with the Japanese collective Ghost than with the sprawlingly odd Americana of albums like The Emotional Plague. This gives The Unexamined Life a haunting edge that simply isn't captured by the Lou Barlow references that seem appropriate -- there's an antique and wholly psychedelic quality behind the record's drawling folk, and it's that element that lends the album most of its interest.