Browsing Tag

Dream-Pop

Roo Elizabeth – Ready to Die: A Dream Pop Redemption Story

Posted on 25 September 2023

Etherealism drifts through the latest avant-garde dream-pop installation, Ready to Die, from the Irish artist, songwriter, and fledging producer, Roo Elizabeth who has been taking the live circuit by storm after opening for Wyvern Lingo and Mary Coughlan and appearing on the bill at Electric Picnic and Forest Fest.

With a soundscape that bridges the gap between the melancholic intimacy of Bill Ryder-Jones, the hazy production techniques of Cigarettes After Sex, and the artful expression of Kate Bush in her The Kick Inside era, Roo Elizabeth gave her sophomore single a timelessly beguiling nocturnal quality, perfect for slipping into when you want to relish in introverted introspection.

The track title may appear macabre but the sonic experience itself couldn’t be more tender in its advocation for sanctity, acceptance, and authenticity. By illustrating the beauty of tragedy, in the same vein as Cultdreams, Roo Elizabeth rendered one of the most affirmingly inspirational singles of 2023.

In her own words:

‘READY TO DIE’ is about radical love. It’s about fighting for your own joy. Like a lot of others, I have grown up surrounded by addiction. It buries the spark in the people we love. This song is about cutting the ties of self-sabotage and rising to meet yourself in your own authenticity.

Ready to Die is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Laney Ryan visualised an indie-folk dream for her latest single, This Path

Posted on 5 September 2023

‘This Path’ is the latest dreamy indie-folk single from the Boston-based singer-songwriter Laney Ryan, whose superlative ethereal atmospheres are always haunted by soulful possession.

With This Path, she delivered the reminder that what is lost will always be found; regardless of how lost and directionless you feel on your path, if you are moving forward, you will always find a way to find your way. The lush with choral reverb shoegaze guitars and the desert folk rhythm section create a captivating soundscape to contemplate the trajectory of your own journey while Ryan’s vocals deliver all of the assuring sanctity you could expect to soak up from a single.

Even though she sounds right at home in her indie folk sound, as a teen, Ryan had heavier music tastes; she eventually joined the LA alt-rock band The Brink, which became well-known in the Hollywood touring circuit. After five years of crafting high-octane hits, Ryan moved back to her hometown and started experimenting with a more acoustic sound that rings through in her contemporary material.

This Path will hit the airwaves on September 5; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bathe in the shimmering catharsis of whitewood drive’s distorted Tour De Force, cosmic hero

Posted on 1 September 2023
whitewood drive

While shoegaze bands that can cut through the derivative reverb-drenched tones don’t come around all too often in this era, whitewood drive proved that there are still creative ways to push through the washed-out choral distortion with their latest mellifluous-with-malaise single, cosmic hero.

By emanating the darkness of Bauhaus and following the Vapour Trail laid out by Ride, the Connecticut-hailing three-piece succeeded in crafting a single that lends itself well to the traditionalism of the genre while ensuring you have a reason to turn your attention away from your MBV and Slowdive records. The intricately evocative single may stir plaintive emotions, but the accordance lets you bathe in shimmering catharsis in the next breath. It’s a stunning release that harbingers even greater tonal triumphs to come.

cosmic hero is due for official release on September 1st; stream it on Spotify or download the track on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ted brewed the ultimate blend of jazzy indie-folk dream pop with ‘The Coffee Shop’

Posted on 18 August 2023

There was no forgetting Ted’s folk-meets-dream-pop hit, Revolution Then, which reminisced on the times when revolution action was a feasible act of retribution amongst the repressed masses.

In his latest single, the Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist waltzed into The Coffee Shop to share a jazzy and intimate vignette of an unassuming female protagonist who inspired the laidback with luxe style from the fleeting observations made on her curious reticence.

With touches of the Beatles melding with a dreamy iteration of the 70s folk style, The Coffee Shop is far from short of beguile. Ted captured the coffee shop mood perfectly. The snug comforting atmosphere breathes right through the sax-infused kaleidoscopic melodies.

Visit The Coffee Shop for yourselves by heading over to Spotify first.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ell South hit the ground ‘Running’ with her sophomore 80s synth-carved pop single

Posted on 5 August 2023

For her latest single, Running, the endlessly accoladed singer-songwriter Ell South fused ethereal artfulness and synth-carved 80s nostalgia to invite her audience into an aural chamber of honesty, vulnerability, and clarity.

Anyone who has ever known how brutal a battle of wills can be when you are going up against your own mind will see themselves reflected in a crystal-clear mirror when they allow the all-consuming vocal harmonies to take control of their psyche.

The stabbing synth lines with 80s-esque massive percussion and driving basslines give the track the same sense of resilience that radiates from the lyricism, while the lashings of reverb in the poetically illuminating atmosphere will sell sanctuary to the soul – especially the ones weary with ennui.

A certain degree of the authenticity within Ell South’s sound stems from her Welsh and Slovenian roots. She saw music as a right of passage after coming of age in a musical family and clearly came into her own while leaning on an eclectic array of influences.

Since making her debut, her music has featured on BBC Radio Wales, and her debut single launch was performed to a capacity crowd. She’s perceptively on the rise, but something tells us that won’t stop her from reaching out to her fans to lift them when they’re down.

Running hit the airwaves on the 25th of July; you can hear it by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ell South hit the ground ‘Running’ with her sophomore 80s synth-carved pop single

Posted on 28 July 2023

For her latest single, Running, the endlessly accoladed singer-songwriter Ell South fused ethereal artfulness and synth-carved 80s nostalgia to invite her audience into an aural chamber of honesty, vulnerability, and clarity.

Anyone who has ever known how brutal a battle of wills can be when you are going up against your own mind will see themselves reflected in a crystal-clear mirror when they allow the all-consuming vocal harmonies to take control of their psyche.

The stabbing synth lines with 80s-esque massive percussion and driving basslines give the track the same sense of resilience that radiates from the lyricism, while the lashings of reverb in the poetically illuminating atmosphere will sell sanctuary to the soul – especially the ones weary with ennui.

A certain degree of the authenticity within Ell South’s sound stems from her Welsh and Slovenian roots. She saw music as a right of passage after coming of age in a musical family and clearly came into her own while leaning on an eclectic array of influences.

Since making her debut, her music has featured on BBC Radio Wales, and her debut single launch was performed to a capacity crowd. She’s perceptively on the rise, but something tells us that won’t stop her from reaching out to her fans to lift them when they’re down.

Running hit the airwaves on the 25th of July; you can hear it by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bomb Voyage has debuted his compassionately choral RnB dream pop serenade, Serenity

Posted on 20 July 2023

With melodically intricate indie guitars and synths that wouldn’t be out of place in a Cigarettes After Sex single, Bomb Voyage created a hazily dreamy atmosphere for his classic RnB vocals to soak into in his latest single, Serenity.

Hedonistic and self-destructive behaviour may have been normalised to the point it has been glamorised in contemporary culture; instead of contributing to the acceptability of the toxicity of the trend, Bomb Voyage orchestrated a moody yet compassionate ballad to pay an ode to a female protagonist who has a proclivity towards excess.

Rather than painting a monster, Bomb Voyage used their lyrical empathy and beckoningly magnetic vocal lines to create a consoling release for anyone who needs the affirmation that even the most wayward souls deserve to be seen beyond their lifestyles.

Serenity is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Motel TV is in ‘Cruise Control’ on their cerebrally poetic new wave indie single.

Posted on 17 July 2023
MOTEL TV (EP) by MOTEL TV

The Chicago, Illinois indie evocators, Motel TV, are fresh from the release of their eponymous debut EP, featuring the introspectively transcendent single, Cruise Control; with one half of the four-piece outfit employed as successful psychotherapists, the single unravels as poignantly as expected.

With the post-punk-y electronic drum fills snapping against the ethereal reverb that spills from the accordant synth and guitar lines, a beguiling atmosphere is created for Motel TV to induce you into a deeper hypnotic state with their cerebral lyricism.

Just when you think you’ve got Motel TV all figured out, Cruise Control evolves from the psychedelia-instilled new wave dream pop synthetics to immerse you in a riff-powered chasm of garage rock as a reflection of the living discordance we all have to resist to keep on a path towards inner peace.

Naturally, any and all reminiscences are fleeting in Cruise Control, but fans of The Smiths, Joy Division and The Psychedelic Furs will easily accommodate the single in their playlists.

Stream Cruise Control which is part of the Motel TV EP on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zae Aio has taken control of the sands of time with her ethereal indie RnB debut, Don’t Waste My Time

Posted on 9 June 2023
Zae Aio

For her debut release, Don’t Waste My Time, the up-and-coming soulstress, Zae Aio, created a dreamy RnB odyssey, which starts with a slow and mellow indie pop pre-chorus to emanate accommodating 90s nostalgia before amplifying the atmosphere with Prince-esque soaring guitars.

The sublimely textural release is a testament to the originality of Zae, who has always struggled to find her place and feel assured in her identity due to her multicultural roots stemming from Côte d’Ivoire and Norway and growing up in Oslo. Though, clearly, she’s right at home on the airways with her arcanely honeyed vocal lines and the ease with which she lays it all down on the expressive line.

Don’t Waste My Time is a devilishly delicious debut, which is all too efficacious in proving Zae has exactly what it takes to have dominion over the RnB genre.

Don’t Waste My Time will hit the airwaves on June 9th. Check it out on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

House of Asha broke through silence and stigma with her debut dream-pop single, Talk About It

Posted on 16 May 2023
https://youtu.be/Z27jssfBhsU

With her diaphanous debut single, Talk About It, the alternative singer-songwriter, House of Asha, broke the silence and stigma which often stifles the conversation around mental health in South Asian communities.

It is one thing to be candid when there will be no negative consequence or connotation, it is quite another to defy culture to break the cycle of generational trauma. The mellifluous dream-pop synthetics are a sublime pairing for the harmonically poised bleeding vocals, which effortlessly coalesce with the shoegazey dream-pop layers that will leave your rhythmic pulses on a plateau while the lyricality leaves you grounded.

Talk About It is the first single to release from House of Asha’s debut LP; it set the bar for what is to come, although, our faith is well-placed in the elevated grace of the songstress who scores her melancholically demure tracks around influences from the likes of Imogen Heap, Billie Eilish, Hozier and Young the Giant.

You can check out the debut single, Talk About It, from House of Asha via SoundCloud or stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast