dream pop
Premiere: Hollow States release a dynamic and confronting video for the gorgeous and mesmerising track ‘I’ll Leave’
Sydney’s Hollow States consists of Huck Hastings and brothers Joel and Hayden Woolf. Of course, we’ve met Huck Hastings before here at Backseat Mafia as a solo artist: his beautiful album ‘Cheers to Progress’ received an 8.5/10 from me and was described as being a cinematic sweep full of longing, love and loss. It is …
News: Kekko Announce Debut EP ‘Dreaming Life’; Listen To Track ‘Within You’
Kekko is the psychedelic lovechild of Singaporean dream-pop duo Tim and Cherie Kekko. They have announced the release of their debut EP ‘Dreaming Life’, due 11th June via Spirit Goth. “Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as …
News: New Zealand’s Womb announce EP ‘Holding a Flame’, out through Flying Nun Records, and tour dates
Shoegaze/dream pop exponents extraordinaire, Womb, from Pōneke (Wellington) have just announced the release of a new EP – ‘Holding a Flame’ – on 23 June 2021 through the inestimable and legendary Flying Nun Records. What a powerful combination. To launch this event, Womb will be embarking on a Aotearoa/New Zealand-wide tour. ‘Holding a Flame’ is a …
Premiere: Ipswich instrumental magicians Coalfalls provide us with an exclusive listen to their new EP ‘Pieces’: a shimmering sonic temple
Ipswich band Coalfalls achieve something remarkable for a band that plays instrumentals: they create the most evocative and lush soundscapes that speak volumes without words. We introduced the band last year with their double singles Coalfalls and Stephenson Street evoking a layered shoegaze/dream pop vibe. There is an abstract expressionism in their pieces that sparkles …
Track: All India Radio emits another bright ray of sunshine with the shimmering atmospheric track ‘El Cielo’
Martin Kennedy’s All India Radio released the magnificent album ‘Afterworld’ earlier this year and it still resonates with a shimmering and haunting aura – read my effusive review here. All India Radio has now released a new single from this epic album, ‘El Cielo’, with maestro Gareth Koch on board. Gareth Koch is a multi-talented …
EP Review: Oceans washes a dream pop shoegaze fugue over us with the epic ‘Come So Far’
‘Come So Far’ is an immersive and epic debut from Melbourne’s Oceans (the moniker of Thomas Lee): four tracks that shimmer and sparkle with an iron spine and a dreamy disposition. Lee says of the EP: This is my debut EP recorded for my solo project Oceans. It encapsulates the last 5-7 years of my …
Premiere: Skybelly’s ethereal ‘The Rhino, The Tiger, The Emerald Dragonfly’ is a silky, sensual dream pop reverie with a message.
We are pleased to premiere the new single ‘The Rhino, The Tiger, The Emerald Dragonfly’ by Melbourne’s Skybelly, the nom de plume of artist Sara Nelson. This is a slinky, smooth and textural piece of music is off Skybelly’s forthcoming EP ‘The Drama of a Lava Lamp’ due out on 4 June 2021. Skybelly has …
Track: Pastel Coast – ‘Distance’: summery dream pop from the Calais coasts
HAILING from the shores of Boulogne-sur-mer, on the French north coast, Pastel Coast are on land, looking out over the waves; as the Cocteau Twins once said with dreamy ecstasy, “Sea, Swallow Me”. Led by Quentin Isidore, the band have one maritime-inflected album under their belts, 2019’s Hovercraft, which is bookended by the title track …
Track: Catbells – ‘Fade – Rainy Day Demo’: a bright new talent from rural New England with a feline mask and dreampop delight
WE DON’T know who it is that figuratively and physically dons the mask of Catbells; but we do know that she is rather lovely. Born and raised in New England, we know that the singer-songwriter was introduced to the piano aged 5; and that by seventh grade she was playing the guitar and writing songs …
See: The stop-motion animation for Semihelix’s ‘Recoil’: a dreamy Texas take on the Flying Nun sound
DREAMING guitar pop dreams on the vibrant Austin, Texas scene, the fine trio Semihelix are bidding for love with their new track, “Recoil”, which comes accompanied accompanied by a quirky stop-motion involving bejewelled beetles, reel-to-reel tape, toy cars and ladybirds; go have a looksee at the end there, it’s a lovely thing – and it’s …