A n d I t r y t o f o r g e t a l l t h a t I k n o w…..
A one man band, Phil Danyew (former touring member of Foster the People) creates a 60’s rock landscape of a dream world lost in happy sadness.
Tag: Dream-pop
[Listen] METRIC: Now or Never Now
The first time I ever listened to a song by Canadian Indie-pop band, Metric, was in Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim versus the World. A young Brie Larson appears on stage as the narrator screams ‘And then it was time…. for Toronto… to drown in the sweet sorrow of The Clash at Demonhead!’
In a sultry, already suggestive voice, Brie covers Metric’s Black Sheep single, chanting several oh yeahs as the crowd goes wild with ex-superman jamming on the guitar. Eyes flash, hair is tossed and silent threats fill the room. Metric’s original song gives the film added layers of complexity, contrasting the overt sweetness of Brie’s character with darkness, as the track twists and turns in its sharp key changes.
Metric’s most well-known track also embodies this theme of oxymoron, obvious in the very title as it is in the the jarring switches from major to minor; help, I’m alive.
This is what makes Metric truly unique. Each track weaves optimism with cynicism, indie-pop edged with a distinct flavor of dystopian despair. This is often so subtle that listening lifts your feelings and hopes but leaves you wanting for resolution. With their latest full-length album coming out this year, the band has been slowly releasing upbeat, dreamy singles, each more synth-heavy than the last. Their use of synthesizers give their tracks that distance between listener and vocalist, with emotion only just graspable but yet so far away that its almost surreal.
Listen to the two new singles and watch out for the new album!
[Listen]: YUMI ZOUMA: In Camera
Presenting OtO’s most mellow post yet, Yumi Zouma bring fresh grass, blue skies and the dream-pop world of New Zealand to their track, In Camera. Known for being Chet Faker’s and even Lorde’s opening act at a point in time, the band embraces its Oceanic influences in an incredibly atmospheric way; soft, layered vocals on a backdrop of cruising, plucky guitars that have you humming. The beat gives you the feeling and image of those warm-toned, high saturated do-nothing days, lounging about in the sun.
Unabashedly huge Fleetwood Mac fans, the band’s retro inspiration in the track is subconsciously felt, tinged with the sensation of memory, as if you’d have heard the track before, but never quite caught the lyrics. The production perhaps is responsible for this, the band primarily relies on virtual synthesizer emulators accompanied by light instrumentation.
The album, Willowbank, is named after a wildlife sanctuary in Christchurch, New Zealand. It’s hard to only talk about the music without connecting to the recent tragedy in Christchurch in the past week… if anything, this post is in remembrance of that peace the band members found in their hometown, and in hope that peace can be found once again.
Read more in their interview with WhattheSound here: http://www.whatthesound.com/interviews/yumi-zouma
And an extra track just because every time I listen to this band I fall in love just a little more. I’ve never heard a track so accurately represent a color in pure sound… powder blue.
[Listen] VÖK: Night & Day
Dream-pop electronica band from Iceland, Vök create a dreamy world inspired by their bleak, but incredibly beautiful home country. Little sunlight, miles of snow, falling glaciers and terrifyingly cold, but crystal clear water are just some of the images their music seems to inspire. Often compared to the XX, the band takes aspects of the famous coolness and distance in the XX’s oeuvre and adds pulsing synths and heightened vocals to create an immense feeling of power, reminding me more often of BANKS and CHVRCHES.
The band has never played outside of Europe, yet their sound is growing to have a universal appeal. Give it a listen.
Out the Other 