Category: dream pop

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: PANIK FLOWER Shares Brooding and Uneasy “rearview”

Formed back in 2022 through a combination of chance introductions and long-time friendships, Brooklyn-based indie outfit PANIK FLOWER — Sage Leopold (vocals), Mila Stieglitz-Courtney (guitar, vocals), Jordan Buzzell (guitar), Max Baird (bass) and Marco Starger (drums) — have firmly cemented a sound that mixes dream pop with an understated heaviness. The result is a unique soundscape featuring soft and dreamy harmonies, hard-hitting instrumentals and cutting lyricism that evokes the hazy nostalgia of distant memories of love, loss and identity.

Through playing shows around the New York Metropolitan area, the band quickly developed a fanbase and reputation for their live show. Building upon a growing reputation, the band released their Carl Bespolka-produced debut EP, 2023’s Dark Blue.

The rising Brooklyn-based outfit’s sophomore EP, the recently released. six-song rearview is deeply rooted in intentional juxtaposition. Thematically, rearview EP sees the band looking inward to explore identity; namely the dichotomous nature of uncertainty and self-acceptance paired with a lush yet jagged soundscape.

“This EP felt like a lot of us finding ourselves as a band — our sound and how we perform,” the band’s Max Baird shared. “Sage’s spoken word has become such an important part of that and we really wanted to explore it in this project. It contributes a lot to the push-pull dynamic of our music, often adding another rhythmic element on top of an already lush, sonic landscape. Many of the bones of these tracks were brought to us by our drummer Marco, who was our missing piece up until early last year.”

The EP’s latest single, EP title track “rearview” is a stormy and uneasy take on 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock anchored around a wall of shimmering and swirling shoegazer-like guitar, explosive hi-hat driven drumming paired with Leopold’s unhinged wailing. And at its core, “rearview” explores a barely contained simmering rage over being taken advantage of, of being made a fool, and of having to maneuver in the aftermath of an embittering, humiliating experience.

Directed by Harleigh Shaw, the accompanying video for “rearview” is a brooding, horror movie-influenced visual that at one point that features the band’s Leopold as a “final girl” being chased by a relentless pursuer.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Moon Construction Kit Shares Breezy “Long John Silver”

Olivier Cornu is a Swiss-based singer/songwriter, musician, producer and creative mastermind behind Moon Construction Kit, a project that sees him drawing from indie pop, psych pop, synth pop, late 60s pop and cinematic textures.

Cornu released his self-tiled Moon Construction Kit debut EP back in 2022. His latest single “Long John Silver” is languorous, lullaby of a tune featuring twinkling keys, shimmering synths, booming drums paired with the Swiss artist’s dreamy delivery and an incredibly catchy hook. The result is a song that feels breezily effortless yet carefully crafted.

Sonically, “Long John Silver” is anchored around a nostalgia inducing, retro-futuristic production that feels simultaneously intimate and cinematic, while delving into — and evoking — the narrator’s shifting and complicated nature.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Us and I Share Shimmering and Melancholy “Crushed”

Formed back in 2018 in  Bangalore and currently based in Düsseldorf, the emerging synth pop duo Us and I — Bidisha Kesh (vocals) and Guarav Govilkar (production) — features members who come from very different backgrounds and who bonded over having similar musical sensibilities: When the pair started to work together, they quickly realized that they shared a unique way of crafting songs with deeply personal lyrics paired with the melancholia of the orange and yellow colors leaking from their synthesizers.

The duo then spent the next two years developing and honing a sound they felt acted as a bridge between the synth-driven work of Chromatics and the slow-burning, dream pop of Beach House — with subtle nods to darkwave and post-punk. Thematically, the duo’s material generally draws from everyday life and the relationships around them. 

The duo’s debut EP, 2021’s Loveless thematically focused on a deeply universal subject, love — in particular, a past love, and how the nostalgia and grief of that past love can hit us like a wave hitting the shore. Since the release of Loveless EP, the duo relocated to Düsseldorf — for work and for potentially better opportunities for their music.

Their latest single, the bittersweet and hook-driven “Crushed” features Kesh’s achingly expressive delivery ethereally floating over shimmering synth arpeggios and stomping beats. Interestingly, “Crushed” strikes me as a subtle refinement of their sound that still sees them channeling Beach House and Still Corners — but with a decidedly 80s tinge.

“‘Crushed’ thrusts you in a crystal capsule where the lull of a bittersweet spell and the deluge of impeccable love caresses your every bone,” the Düsseldorf-based duo say. “And yet when the virulent pain of this beautiful guise emerges again, you seek to escape this perfect dream, lest you’re crushed to death.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, David Roback!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 67th anniversary of David Roback’s birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 63rd Birthday, Simon Raymonde!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Simon Raymonde’s 63rd birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Alaska Blue Share A Shimmering Ode to Loneliness”

Earlier this year, Italian indie duo Alaska Blue — singer/songwriter Elisabeta Giordano and musician Davide Cast — released “Cigarette,” a subtly Bossa nova-like take on neo-soul that evokes late night/early morning solitary walks in an industrial city that has seen much better days, reminiscing over what once was and may never come back; and of dreaming of escaping your dreary surroundings for something different — or for something seemingly better.

The duo explain that the song explores themes of destiny, the weight of nostalgia and the struggle of working-class folks and life on the city’s edge. “The lyrics paint a personal vision of concrete-paneled buildings in the outskirts of a port city,” they say. The “song will resonate with anyone, who’s ever felt the weight of unspoken words and the quiet beauty of a lonely night.”

The duo’s latest single of 2025, “Starless” is a slow-burning and soulful bit of dream pop that brings a synthesis of Still Corners, Geowulf and Amy Winehouse to mind while continuing to showcase their unerring knack for paring catchy hooks with earnest and deeply introspective lyricism.

The duo explain that “‘Starless’ highlights that while we are in the rush to chase deadlines, grab a meal before the store closes, or catch the last train, so many lives are left unseen. This track captures the aching loneliness of those at the edges. . . .”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Forgotten Garden Shares Broodingly Atmospheric “Five Minutes”

Split between Scotland and Portugal, Forgotten Garden — Portuguese-based Inês Rebelo (vocals) and Danny Elliott (guitar, keys and production), accompanied by guests — formed back in 2019 and quickly established a brooding goth-tinged sound with elements of post-punk inspired by The Cure, Joy Division and The Doors while Rebelo cites Florence Welch, Lana Del Rey, Chelsea Wolfe, Weyes Blood, Kelsey Lu and Warpaint as influences on her vocal styling.

The duo’s debut EP, the four-song Broken Pieces thematically focused on a the breakdown of a relationship and received praise from Angry Baby back in 2021. Last year’s sophomore EP In Memoriam thematically touched on death, loss and grief and received praise from The Indie Grid, who called the EP “a thing of fragile and transient beauty.”

The Portuguese-Scottish duo’s latest single is the slow-burning torch song “Five Minutes.” Anchored around a broodingly atmospheric arrangement of ethereal synths paired with a sinuous bass line, jazz-like drum patterns, “Five Minutes” perfectly showcases Rebelo’s gorgeous delivery which expresses longing and heartache within the turn of a phrase.

The duo explains that “Five Minutes” is a sad and poignant song that tells the story of a couple who immediately fall for each other and mistakenly believe that their connection will last forever. “However, slowly and almost imperceptibly over time they drift apart as their love wanes. This leads the main character in the song to wonder how they drifted apart as she wistfully looks back on their life together,” the duo explain.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: she’s green Shares “120 Minutes” MTV-like “Graze”

With the release of their earliest singles “river” and “smile again,” the Minneapolis-based quintet quickly became a staple within the Midwestern alternative scene, while earning praise from Complex, Star Tribune and The Current. Their debut EP, 2023’s Wisteria saw the band establishing an honest and exploratory songwriting process and a reputation for being a force in the world of sonic surrealism. Adding to a growing profile, the rising Minnesotans have supported their material with tours throughout the Midwest and East Coast with the likes of Hotline TNT, Glixen, Friko and others.

she’s green recently signed to New York-based Photo Finish Records, who released the Henry Stoehr-produced “Graze,” the first bit of new material since Wisteria EP. Featuring glistening and swirling, reverb-soaked guitar textures, Smith’s dreamily ethereal vocal, strummed acoustic guitar for the song’s first half, an explosive feedback and fuzzy power-chord driven middle section and a placid, almost folksy strummed acoustic guitar coda, “Graze” recalls Souvlaki-era Slowdive while evoking an aching longing.

“This song is about feeling trapped in a distant memory and longing to find a way out,” she’s green says about “Graze.” “The only way to escape seems to be facing it head-on and finally getting the release you need.”

The accompanying video for “Graze,” features the band’s Zofia Smith serenely swirling around a summery verdant forest, near one of their home state’s many lakes, with the sun dappling off the rippling water. As the song swells with intensity, the visuals become trippier and more frenzied, urgent and mind-bending. As a child of the 80s and 90s, this one brought back fond memories of 120 Minutes-era MTV.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays South of France Shares Breezy and Introspective “Little Thoughts”

Led by Denver-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and creative mastermind Jeff Cormack, South of France is an indie pop project that sees Cormack and collaborators specializing in a groovy, beat-driven take on escapist, vacation pop. 

With South of France, Cormack has had his work featured in a number of smash-hit TV shows like Bojack Horseman and Shameless while receiving praise from American Songwriter, NPR, Rolling Stone and others. The Denver-based project has also opened for a list of acclaimed acts including Portugal. The Man, Young The Giant, Flaming Lips, Michigander and others.

Cormack’s forthcoming South of France album My Spirit Animal, My Baggage is reportedly one-part solo album and one-part collaborative effort with a series of vocalists, emcees and musicians. The album will feature two previously released singles:

  • “Universal Order,” a a heady yet accessible synthesis of psych pop, world music and hip-hop that’s crowd-pleasing and summery that also features Bilingual (Francophone/Anglophone) emcee Big Samir, who is one-half of The Reminders delivers a swaggering verse for the song’s hallucinogenic bridge and break. 

  • “Something That You Said” a lysergic, blissed out bit of Tame Impala-like pop that serves s a lush and woozy bed for  Big Samir and CRL CRRLL to trade swaggering bars and dreamily soulful falsetto vocals. 

  • “Weekend Lover” is a blissed-out lysergic tune featuring a propulsive and rubbery groove, lush and swirling shoegazer-like textures and ethereal vocals from longtime collaborator, Little Trips‘ Greg Laut that’s a warm and nostalgic blast of summer

The album’s latest single “Little Thoughts” continues a run of material sounds as though it draws from Currents-era Tame Impala, JOVM mainstays POND and GUM with the song anchored around a lush and woozy production featuring enormous 808-like thump, skittering beats, bursts of spacey sounds, strummed guitar and buzzing video game-like synths paired with dreamy falsetto vocals. And yet, “Little Thoughts” fittingly may be the most introspective song off the album to date.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 63rd Birthday, Robin Guthrie!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Cocteau Twins co-founder Robin Guthrie’s 63rd birthday.