The title of Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! wasn’t born from looking ahead but from looking back. During The Dears’ 20th anniversary tour of No Cities Left, frontman Murray Lightburn was struck by a wave of emotion, reflecting: “Sometimes it gets tough, but life is beautiful.” Onstage, he urged the audience to chant it three times — a mantra that now forms both the name and heart of their latest album.
Though love has long been central to The Dears’ work, their “operatic with a punk sensibility” sound has often explored darker corners too — despair, apathy, and longing. Here, the Montreal band embrace a brighter palette. Life Is Beautiful! feels more immediate than No Cities Left, balancing euphoric optimism with The Dears’ trademark intensity.
The opener, “Gotta Get My Head Right,” bursts to life with shimmering synths, Nile Rodgers-style guitar, and soulful Motown-inspired backing vocals. Lightburn is at his most extroverted, repeating “Oh, I know” like a joyful incantation. Midway through, a surreal shift occurs — psychedelic guitars reminiscent of Abbey Road’s “Carry That Weight” sweep in before the track cuts out suddenly, leaving an exhilarating afterglow.
There’s no pause before “Babe, We’ll Find a Way” launches with jangly guitars and lush strings. It recalls the hopeful undercurrent of No Cities Left’s “Don’t Lose the Faith,” but this time, the optimism feels fully realized. It’s one of Lightburn’s most confident and emotionally fulfilled songs to date — joy radiates through every bar.
Then comes “Doom Pays” — a title that misleads entirely. The track’s buoyant energy channels Satisfaction-era Stones swagger with flashes of Roxy Music saxophone, creating an unexpected hybrid that proves Lightburn’s range extends far beyond the dark romanticism he’s known for.
“Deep In My Heart” opens with a rhythm that faintly recalls Gang of Losers’ “Whites Only Party,” yet quickly veers into funkier territory — love-driven, brassy, and irresistibly danceable. Like the album’s opener, it ends sooner than expected, another of the record’s deliberate jolts that keep the listener alert and engaged.
Elsewhere, “Dead Contacts” and “Our Life” deliver sweeping ’60s-inspired rock. The former mourns lost connections and memories while ultimately finding light in acceptance; the latter carries that cathartic momentum forward. “Tomorrow and Tomorrow” amplifies that nostalgic glow into a full-blown wall of sound, leaving a euphoric haze in its wake.
Dreamlike moments arrive with “This Is How We Make Our Dreams Come True” and the title track “Life Is Beautiful!” The first evokes the vintage charm of “When You Wish Upon a Star,” while the latter drifts through nocturnal synths and brass, elevated by the intimacy of Lightburn singing alongside his wife and bandmate Natalia Yanchak. The closing brass outro is quietly devastating — a final emotional release.
The album’s standout, “Tears of a Nation,” breaks the mood entirely — a pulsing, ’80s-inflected post-punk anthem that confronts vulnerability and uncertainty head-on. It’s not a callback to the gloom of No Cities Left or Gang of Losers but a bold evolution — proof that The Dears can explore new sonic and emotional terrain without losing their core identity.
Two decades ago, The Dears came of age steeped in anger, apathy, and darkness, with fleeting glimpses of love and hope. On Life Is Beautiful!, those glimpses have fully bloomed. The album doesn’t deny struggle — it reframes it, finding beauty in the mess. It’s an uplifting, radiant work that reaffirms The Dears’ enduring genius: to turn pain into transcendence and chaos into catharsis.
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