Category: dream pop

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Linnea Olsson is Swedish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who quickly established herself as a go-to cellist, thanks in part to her having worked with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Ane Brun and Maia Hirasawa. Lately, Olsson has begun to receive international attention for her self-proclaimed cello-driven fantasy pop. Now, if you had been frequenting this site around the end of last year, you may recall that I wrote about “The Weekend,” a swooning and gorgeous track that reminded me quite a bit of Kishi Bashi as a classical string arrangement was paired with extremely modern and ironic lyrics describing a desperately neurotic and delusional narrator, who escapes into a world in which she’s an enormous star, who gets revenge on those who wronged her. Her latest single “Hall of Tragedy” thematically is much more serious; but it will further cement the Swedish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s burgeoning reputation for crafting swooningly gorgeous cello-driven pop — and in the case of her latest single, the song also serves as the perfect showcase for an undeniably beautiful vocals in what may be arguably be the moodiest and most atmospheric song she has released to date.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of her first two, critically applauded full-length efforts, her 2011 full-length debut and its highly anticipated follow-up Perfect Storm, which was produced by Johannes Berglund, who has worked with internationally acclaimed acts The Knife and I Break Horses, the Stockholm, Sweden-based singer/songwriter and electronic pop artist Ester Ideskog, best known as Vanbot quickly established a reputation for crafting ethereal, hook-driven and deeply thoughtful pop.

“Collide (Krasnoyarsk), ” the first single off her third full-length effort Siberia, which is slated for an April release through Sony Music Sweden and the single while continuing her ongoing collaboration with Johannes Berglund also manages to be a subtle change in in sonic direction as the track possesses a brooding and atmospheric air paired with thumping beats, shimmering synths that twist themselves around Ideskog’s ethereal vocals, and some industrial clang and clatter — and in some way, the song sonically reminds me quite a bit of Niki and the Dove, Moonbabies and others, thanks in part to its hook-driven nature and moody feel. But it’s core is a raw heartache that’s deeply visceral.

As Ideskog explains in press notes, “‘Collide (Krasnoyarsk)’ was written after four days on the Trans-Siberian Railway, traveling through the deepest parts of Siberia. The temperature was just above zero, it was raining and we were passing through small villages and old industrial communities. It describes the collisions and the attractions in relationships, and having no choice but to accept the raw and un-retouched feelings. You know, it’s like the poem of David Jones: ‘It’s both a blessing and a curse to feel everything so very deeply.’”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their earliest singles and their debut EP Anonymous, the Brisbane, Australia-based sibling duo Niterunner — comprised of Daniel and Andrea Suesskow — received quite a bit of attention nationally for the sort of soulful yet dreamy electro pop production and anthemic hooks that’s been compared favorably to the likes of M83, Phoenix, Moonbabies, Cut Copy, and others. Interestingly, the Suesskows’ latest single “Out of Your Hands” is reportedly a reworking of a single the duo released earlier that received some 16,000 streams upon its release and was recorded and reworked in their family’s home studio — and was produced by Daniel Suesskow.  And sonically speaking, the single will further cement their burgeoning reputation across Australia and elsewhere, for crafting summery and dreamy pop that’s both wistfully nostalgic and achingly earnest paired with a soaring hook and shimmering synths.

As the Suesskows explained in press notes the song’s lyrics reflect on moments of symmetry, a singular way of thought and reaction, a cycle of repetition and a struggle to cope but offering a moment of self-realization and reprieve, in which one learns how to counterbalance their internal process of self-doubt and self-flagellation with the realization that there’s only so much you can control. And as a result, all anyone can do is let go of the things that are completely out of their hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their first four singles over the course of 2015 and 2016 — — the achingly vulnerable “What Do You Think They’ll Say About Me,” the part torch song, part wistful and tender farewell “I’m Already Gone” and the slow-burning Quiet Storm-era R&B inspired pop song “Find Me Out,” and the swooning “I Could Be Your Girl,” the Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based electro pop duo ACES, comprised of  Russ Flynn and Alexandra Stewart received quite a bit of attention across the blogosphere for a subtly modern and atmospheric take on early-to-mid 80s synth pop.

The Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based duo start 2017 with their latest single “Just Cut It Out,” which will appear on a synth pop compilation titled DRUG BLVD that serves as the first release from Istanbul, Turkey-based dream pop label Drug Boulevard, founded by Kubily Yigit, best known as the founder of renowned Turkish progressive/trance label Blue Soho Records. “Just Cut It Out” will further cement the duo’s burgeoning internationally recognized profile for crafting slow-burning and atmospheric pop paired with Stewart’s breathy and achingly tender vocals. And while bearing a meticulous production, the single manages to swoons with the heartache of a relationship that the song’s narrator knows is doomed and yet doesn’t want to give up.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tsutro’s Latest Dream Pop-Inspired Single “Say Something”

Now, if you had been frequenting this site towards the end of last year, you may recall that I wrote about San Francisco, CA-based electronic music artist and producer, Jacob Monague and his latest solo recording project Tsutro. Tsutro is a bit of a sonic departure from Montague’s work as a member of BRANCHES and his previous solo work, which had placements on a number of popular TV shows including — America’s Got Talent, The X Factor, One Tree Hill and others, as well as the film trailers for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Afternoon Delight, and Love Is Strange as Montague’s latest project draws from a diverse array of influences such as pop, worldbeat, future garage and downtempo. And with a batch of his latest singles, the San Francisco-based producer and artist collaborates with a different vocalist, which gives each song a completely different feel and tone.

The third single of his initial batch of singles “Say Something” is a breezy and coquettish track featuring both Roxi Pianko and Montague’s vocals over a slick and dreamy production featuring twinkling keys and synths, strummed guitar and stuttering drum programming. Now while, the previous single I wrote about “Back to You” feat. Sunday Lane was reminiscent of the sensual yet bracingly chilly house of Octo Octa’s Between Two Selves, “Say Something” sounds inspired by Swedish dream pop — but with a swooning Romanticism.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Nostalgia-filled Visuals for Geowulf’s “Don’t Talk About You”

Splitting their time between London, UK, Gothenburg, Sweden and Berlin, Germany the Noosa, Australia-born duo Star Kendrick and Toma Benjamin can trace the origins of their musical project Geowulf to Benjamin and Kendrick’s long-time friendship, a friendship that started when they were both in their teens; however, Kendrick and Benjamin’s musical collaboration began in earnest, when Kendrick, whose parents were also professional musicians, began seriously pursuing music a few years ago and listed her friend to flesh out the sound of her earliest demos.

With the release of their debut single “Saltwater” the duo quickly received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere as the single reached over 1 million Spotify streams, reached the Hype Machine‘s top ten and peaked at #4 on the Spotify US viral charts. Building upon the buzz of their debut single, the Australian-born, Europe-based duo’s latest single manages to subtly expand upon the sound that first caught the attention of the blogosphere and elsewhere as Kendrick’s ethereal and hauntingly gorgeous vocals are paired with lushly shimmering and jangling guitar chords in a song that evokes 70s AM rock. And while some have said that the duo’s sound channels Fleetwood Mac, I also hear a subtle nod towards Mazzy Star as the song possesses a lovelorn ache. As Star Kendrick explains in press notes “This song went through a geographical and creative metamorphosis over almost two years. We originally wrote it in Copenhagen, demo’ed it in Stockholm and then revisited it recently when Toma and I were both in London. I guess the song speaks for itself but ultimately it falls in the good ol’ ‘wanting-something-that-ain’t-good-for-you’ vein …”

The recently released music video was shot while the duo was in Berlin with grainy VHS-style filters manages to capture the summery yet nostalgic feel at the core of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Quickly establishing herself as a go-to cellist, who has worked with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Ane Brun and Maia Hirasawa, Linnea Olsson is Swedish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who has begun to see international praise from the likes of The New York Times and The 405 for her self-proclaimed cello-driven fantasy pop. Olsson’s  latest single “The Weekend” is a simply put a stunningly gorgeous and swooning track that sonically speaking reminds me of quite a bit of the work of K. Ishibashi and his solo recording project Kishi Bashi as a classical-leaning string arrangement is paired with extremely modern and somewhat ironic lyrics in which the song’s narrator talks about drinking enough to forget everything that’s happened in the past week or so and treating the weekend as a much needed escape — from everything; however, the narrator’s escapist fantasies involve getting revenge on those who wronged her by becoming the biggest, most fantastic star on the face of the earth.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Uppermost Performs Reminder in Paris

Now, if you’ve bee frequenting this site over the course of the past month or so, you may recall that I previously wrote about Behdad Netjabakshe, Paris, France-based electronic music producer and electronic music artist, best known as Uppermost. Netjabakshe has received international material for material released through a number of renowned labels including Sony BMG, Ministry of Sound, BugEyed Records, Starlight Records and his own Uppwind Records. Adding to a growing internationally recognized profile, Netjabakshe’s “Equivocal” landed at number 3 on Beatport’s electro house charts back in 2009, his Biscuit Factory EP ranked first on the JunoDownload electro-house charts — and he’s had singles playlist by renowned artists and producers such as Tiesto, Armin van Buren and Steve Angello. Additionally, he’s received attention for remixing the work of Daft Punk, deadmau5, Burial, Crystal Castles, Jonathan Coulton, Syl Johnson, Congorock and countless others.

Netjabakshe’s forthcoming full-length effort Origins 2011-2016 is a massive 23 song LP that features some of the French electronic music artist and producer’s most popular songs such as “Flashback,” “Beautiful Light,” “Reminder” and “Mistakes” as well as a ton of new material including the shimmering and anthemic M83-channeling single “Thousand Colors,” that possessed a bit of muscle and forcefulness. The French electronic music artist and producer recently released live concert footage performing the cinematic, shimmering and funky “Reminder” in Paris. Interestingly, while the retro-futuristic gently nods at both M83 and Pink Floyd, the song manages to sound as though it should be part of the soundtrack of a sci-fi thriller.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Dali-esque, Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” Inspired Visuals for Jordan Burchel’s “Coffee Breath”

Vowel Sounds’ latest single “Coffee Breath” will further cement the Gainesville, FL-based multi-instrumentalist and producer’s burgeoning reputation for carefully crated rock with deeply introspective lyrics that sonically draws from psych rock and dream pop — although in this case, “Coffee Breath” much like the work of Drakkar Nowhere sounds as though it also draws from 70s AM rock as Burchel’s crooning is paired with shuffling drumming and subtly bluesy psych rock guitar chords. But just underneath the surface is a subtly mischievous sense of irony.

Animated by Tristan Whitehall at Squiggle Dot, the recently released video for “Coffee Breath” playfully nods at Dire Straits’ legendary and envelope pushing “Money for Nothing” but with an insouciance to the proceedings as the video follows an anthropomorphic coffee cup as it journeys through a Dali-esque desert to a surrealist living room and back to the desert — and during the journey, the coffee cup encounters a snake seductively wrapping itself around an anthropomorphic apple, an hourglass with a skull from it as the coffee cup holds another coffee cup and later drinks from it. It’s surreal but with a gloriously mischievous glee.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of their debut single “I Knew You,” the Newcastle, UK-based quartet Seeing Hands, comprised of Kev Curran (vocals, guitar), Nick Hodgson (lead guitar), Jon Varty (bass) and Liam Guillan (drums) have received airplay from the likes of BBC Radio 6 and XFM, as well as attention across the blogosphere for a shimmering guitar pop/dream pop sound that sounds as though it owed a debt to the 4AD Records sound and to contemporary acts like DIIV and others, complete with a gorgeous yet wistful sense of melody as you’ll hear on their latest single “It’s True.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Twin Limb’s Gorgeous Cover of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Bo Koster

Currently, the Louisville-based trio are touring with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, as he supports his recently released solo effort Eternally Even as both James’ opener and as his backing band. And while on tour with James, at Louisville’s Iroquois Amphitheater, the members of Twin Limb, along with James and James’ My Morning Jacket’s Bo Koster performed a gorgeous cover of Mazzy Star’s beloved and haunting “Fade Into You” that varies slightly from the original as Twin Limb’s Lacey Guthrie is backed by Jim James vocals during the first verse or two and the first chorus, before switching to James leading and Guthrie backing. The live footage was shot by Dave Boone and Chad Heavenly and later edited by Boone.

As Twin Limb’s Maryliz Bender says in press notes on the cover and on the video, “I’ll never forget the first time I saw Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’ music video. I was 10 years old, sneaking peeks of MTV at my grandparent’s house. It was the first song that hit me right in the heart. I don’t know if its a nostalgia thing, or some other kind of magic, but it is the song that will always melt my heart on command. I had to hold back those emotions while playing it with Jim and Bo on the Louisville Iroquois Amphitheater stage. What a beautiful moment.”

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Splitting their time between London, UK, Gothenburg, Sweden and Berlin, Germany the Noosa, Australia-born duo Star Kendrick and Toma Benjamin can trace the origins of their musical project Geowulf to a friendship that started when both Kendrick and Benjamin were in their teens; however, the duo’s musical collaboration began when Kendrick, whose parents were also professional musicians, began seriously pursuing music three years ago and enlisted her friend to flesh out the sound of her early demos.

With the release of the debut single “Saltwater” earlier this year, the duo quickly received attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere — the single reached over 1 million Spotify streams, reached the Hype Machine‘s top ten and peaked at #4 on the Spotify US viral charts. And building upon the buzz that “Saltwater” received, the Australian-born duo’s latest single “Don’t Talk About You” subtly expands upon the sound that first caught the blogosphere’s attention as Kendrick’s ethereal and hauntingly gorgeous vocals are paired with lushly shimmering and jangling guitar chords and a 70s AM rock vibe. Now, while some have said that the duo’s sound evokes Fleetwood Mac, to my ears I also hear quite a bit of Mazzy Star; but at the core of the song is a lovelorn ache — and the sort of ache over something that the song’s narrator recognizes will be awful for her but wants anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Twin Limb’s Ethereal and Sensual, Shoegazer Cover of Can’s “Yoo Doo Right”

Interestingly, to celebrate the release of their full-length effort, the trio of Bender, Ratterman and Guthrie released a swaggering, moody, sensual and shoegazer rock-leaning cover of the legendary German experimental rock/prog rock cover of Can’s “You Doo Right” that the Louisville, KY-based trio recorded live in their studio — and as you can hear, their cover possesses a towering yet cool, self-assuredness.

As the band’s Kevin Ratterman explained to the folks at CLRVYNT: “When I was building my recording studio, La La Land, Can was one of the constant soundtracks blazing through the speakers day in and out. The meditative, flowing, ever-changing rhythms and melodies were a perfect backdrop for [not only] the monotony of construction, but the excitement of building something where so much creativity was about to be captured. When Twin Limb was a duo before I joined the band, they came in to La La Land to record an album not long after construction was finished. Through working on their record, I most excitedly joined the band and I immediately heard similarities between Maryliz [Bender]’s tribal drum style and the song ‘Yoo Doo Right’ once we started working on their album. I had a fantasy of us doing a cover of that song, and was so excited to hear both their voices together singing it; Michael Karoli’s guitar playing has always been an influence on me, and [I] was so excited to play those anthemic guitar hooks. It’s scary to cover a song by a band that carries so much integrity among some of the most influential experimental musicians of our time, but the first time we played that song, it was so apparent it was going to be so free and fun to play live, especially in a small room packed to the gills of sweaty human creature people.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Mind-Bending, Psychedelic Visuals and Sounds of Twin Limb’s “The Weather”

“The Weather” is the latest single off the Louisville, KY’s soon-to-be-released effort Haplo and much like the other material I’ve written about over the years, it possess a gauzy, dreamy quality — as though the song’s narrator has just been awakened from a pleasant reverie; however, where the previous singles were towering, “The Weather” is much more understated as undulating and droning keys are paired with shimmering guitar chords played through gentle amounts and reverb and sultry pop belter-like vocals in a song that focuses on a growing sense of anticipation and aching longing.

The recently released music video employs the use of kaleidoscopic filters and effects to create a trippy and mind-bending psychedelia that further evokes the song’s gauzy feel.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Currently comprised of founding member Brazilian-born and now Los Angeles, CA-based Samira Winter (vocals), Matt Hogan (guitar), Justine Brown (bass), and Garren Orr (drums), indie dream pop/shoegaze act Winter can trace their origins to when Winter along with the band’s co-founder Nolan Ely started the band in Boston. After the release of their 2012 debut effort Daydreaming EP, Winter relocated to Los Angeles where she recruited the band’s current lineup to flesh out the project’s sound.

As a newly formed  quartet, the members of the band went into the studio to write and record their full-length debut Supreme Blue Dream, which Lolipop Records released last year. With material written and sung in both English and Brazilian Portuguese, the album thematically was designed to connect the listener to their inner child while writing shimmering and ethereal pop that interestingly enough sounds as though it could have been released by 4AD Records.

The band is working on their forthcoming sophomore effort Ethereality while making a number of tour dates, which you can check out below. But interestingly enough, the Los Angeles dream pop act’s latest single “Dreaming” was originally written in 2013 and was presumed lost when the band’s laptop was stolen on tour. However, the members of the band recovered a version of a song found on a backup hard drive — and the single will further cement the band’s growing reputation for crafting shimmering and ethereal pop in which Winter’s ethereal melodies are paired with shimmering guitar chords played through reverb pedal, a sinuous bass line and propulsive drumming. Sonically, the song evokes being woken from a pleasant and revelatory reverie.

Check out the aforementioned tour dates below.

Tour Dates:

October 18 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theater *
October 21 San Francisco, CA – Slims #
November 5 San Diego, CA – Blonde Bar ~
November 6 Fullerton, CA – Continental Room ~

* = w/ Ducktails, Ablebody (Record Release), Wyatt Blair
# = w/ Picture Atlantic
~ = w/ So Many Wizards