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If Mac DeMarco was to collaborate with Beach House, one would imagine that their work would sound a little like Men I Trust’s ‘Numb’. Montreal trio Emma Proulx, Jessy Caron and Dragos Chiriac featured the song on their 2019 album Oncle Jazz.
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Trish Keenan was a terrible loss when she unexpectedly died of pneumonia after contracting swine flu on a 2011 tour of Australia. A decade earlier, her band Broadcast had released their first proper full-length album, The Noise Made by People. It is a nostalgic collection of folk pop cuts. Keenan’s vocal treatment on ‘Come on Let’s Go’ brings to mind the 1960s psychedelia peddled by Melody Prochet, Pale Saints and Saint Etienne before and after. A decade later, I remember how good they were.
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Firstly, an admission… on the strength of Cigarettes After Sex’s 2012 debut EP and their single ‘Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby‘, I went to see the band in London. It was far from being the best gig I’ve attended. Frontman Greg Gonzalez has since suggested that the greatest praise he’s received from fans is that his music helped with their sleep anxiety. While they were late to the dream pop revival, they continued to plough this furrow. In 2017, they released ‘K.’, the opening track of their self-titled LP. The slow-moving sound has echoes of Yo La Tengo and Mazzy Star, particularly if those bands had released a single that fans play at 33rpm.
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Kyle Reigle is the founder of and songwriter for the Cemeteries. When I first heard ‘Sodus’ off his sophomore LP Barrow, I thought I was listening to a Future Islands favourite. But that was before the wave of dream pop hit. Reigle’s moody voice creates a wistful sound… like a warm bath. “Fading old ports…” The video only amplifies the nostalgia.
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The Montreal dream pop trio Men I Trust comprise Emma Proulx (Lead Singer), Jessy Caron (Bass / Guitar) and Dragos Chiriac (keyboard and mixer). Together they make a warm, blissed-out sound that, frankly, lends itself to watching a clip of a girl cycling along the side of a valley. The band released ‘Lauren’ as a single in 2016.
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Warren Hildebrand began his Foxes in Fiction project in 2005, during his sophomore year of high school. He tells people that it was an outlet for his drug-induced musical experimentation. In 2011, Hildebrand withdrew into his Toronto apartment, and began writing and recording what would become his second Foxes in Fiction album. Ontario Gothic was released on his own label, Orchid Tapes, and its title track oozes dream pop.
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The title track off Kate Bush’s masterful album The Sensual World has to be heard to be believed. This was1989 and, inspired by James Joyce’s book Ulysses, Bush created something dreamlike, timeless and erotic. Have a great weekend.
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Before this blog leaves the 1980s, I think midweek is a good time to mention The Blue Nile. In 1989. the Scottish band released the critically acclaimed long player Hats and somehow connected the neon of the 1980s with all dream pop that followed. ‘The Downtown Lights’ is one of the album’s prime cuts. Enjoy frontman Paul Buchanan singing about the romance of that time.
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London-based duo Still Corners released their song ‘The Trip’ as the first track on their 2013 long player Strange Pleasures. The album does not get any better; Tessa Murray’s voice drifts over waves of Greg Hughes-penned dream pop.
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It’s been a while since I’ve featured some contemporary dream pop; so here it is. Musical project Jay Som, the creation of Oakland-based songwriter Melina Duterte, released a new long player, Everybody Works, last month. Duterte also recently commissioned a ski-lift themed video for standout track ‘Baybee’. Now that’s style. Enjoy.
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Cigarettes After Sex are an ambient pop collective based out of Brooklyn, NY. On ‘Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby’, frontman and singer-songwriter Greg Gonzalez explains that “Nothing’s gonna hurt you baby / As long as you’re with me you’ll be just fine.” The old fool – all sentiment and dream pop.
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I think I was still buying CDs in 2010. My sepia-toned memories of opening the understated and zebra-covered disc Teen Dream are all magical. I think it’s the third time that one of its tracks has featured on this blog and I save the best for last. Seek out the crescendos at the end of ‘Walk In The Park’, with their soft cymbals, Alex Scally’s treated guitar and Victoria Legrand dreamy vocals. The album contains their best work and, if it weren’t for a certain Kanye West release, would have been vying with Arcade Fire for the best release of 2010.
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This week I will revel in some of my favourite acts from the last few years. ‘Lover Of Mine’ is off Beach House’s superlative 2010 album Teen Dream. Victoria Legrand’s vocals recall the haunting sound of Stevie Nicks, all languid and lovelorn. But with the recurring circus-like yamaha organ,’Lover Of Mine’ makes for the dream poppiest track on of the album. Have a great week.
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This week, Metronomy has released their latest long player and it sounds good, shoop-doop-doop-ah. It’s stripped back, it’s moody, it’s electronic and he’s aquarius. The second track off Love Letters, the song features a synthesised bossa nova and harmony vocals throughout – and they’re sung by drummer Anna Prior, not sequenced. In fact, listening to the album, Joseph Mount and his band have hit a seam of soul, however lo-fi.
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Beach House’s third long player Teen Dream is full of consummate dream pop. Perfect for dinner parties, this type of romantic, languid sound is always at risk of being a little boring. But Beach House created an album with enough beautiful moments to compensate – the zenith of which is the mid-album pairing of ‘Walk In The Park’ and ‘Used To Be’. Enjoy.
Samuelsounds 