Album Review: Guard Dog

Te Whanganui-a-Tara four-piece Dillon Jo make an impressive debut with Guard Dog, an album that captures the emotional uncertainty of growing up through a combination of dreamy shoegaze and guitar-driven alternative rock. Exploring queer love and feminine rage, the record moves between both hazy melodic passages and heavier moments. Dillon Jo describe their sound as “Dreamy Droppy Rock Pop”, and the phrase suits a band whose music can be simultaneously delicate and forceful. This dog growls as much as it glows.

Opening track Windmill introduces the heavier side of their sound, with dense guitars and an anxious atmosphere. Shiver follows with shimmering textures and melodic hooks, its understated vocals providing an intriguing contrast to the weight of the instrumentation. Vertigo pushes into darker territory, building tension before erupting into a powerful wall of sound. By comparison, Drift is more reflective, considering the sadness of losing touch with someone who once mattered. The piano-led Hourglass offers another change of pace, allowing the songwriting to feel more exposed.

The title track explores the idea of emotional self-protection, while Good Person confronts the self-doubt that can linger after a relationship ends. Hydrangea adds another atmospheric dimension, and Jo provides a brighter moment through its celebration of love, identity and pride. Together, these songs demonstrate the band’s ability to move between introspection and release without losing their melodic focus. Dillon Jo understand that a song can feel gentle and overwhelming at the same time, and this juxtaposition becomes one of the album’s defining qualities.

Closing tracks Bite the Bullet and Break/Empty help sustain the album’s emotional intensity, with the latter bringing feminine rage into focus. The record doesn’t always settle into a single mood, but its shifting dynamics feel appropriate for songwriting concerned with the instability of early adulthood. Like I said, it’s complex.

There are hints of indie-pop and folk beneath the overdrive, reflecting the band’s songwriting roots as an acoustic duo before expanding into a full four-piece. Betty Smith and Georgie Levien’s songwriting benefits from the fuller arrangements supplied by bassist Kahu Sanson-Burnett and drummer Ruadh Munro, particularly when the guitars swell into the album’s more forceful passages and the rhythm section provides the anchor for guitars to swirl around.

With Guard Dog, Dillon Jo establish a compelling identity within Aotearoa’s alternative scene. The album’s greatest strength lies in the tension between its dreamy melodies and heavier bits, capturing the contradictions of growing up without pretending they are easily resolved. Guard Dog is a promising debut from a band with a distinctive, complex emotional voice. Dillon Jo capture the contradictions of growing up with a sound that is dreamy, yet forceful, suggesting an exciting future for this Wellington outfit. Since forming in early 2025, Dillon Jo have built momentum through festival appearances and support slots for established Aotearoa acts. Their growing radio presence, alongside the support received for singles including Drift, Shiver and Vertigo, suggests that their mixture of accessible melodies and heavier textures is finding an audience. Guard Dog provides a convincing statement of what that developing identity can achieve.

Catch them live – they’re a force to be reckoned with.