dream pop
EP Review: Prudence releases the haunting and enigmatic EP ‘Untitled’ and announces launch gig
When he isn’t providing the bottom line for DMAs, Sydney’s Tom Crandle is Prudence – a dreamy solo project that is ethereal and shimmering. We reviewed his single ‘Heart Sways’ this time last year and Prudence has followed this with the EP ‘Untitled’: a natural progression that sees his song writing craft developing and becoming …
Album Review: The Chills deliver an emotional and shining masterpiece in ‘Scatterbrain’
Deep within the fabric of the lush material in ‘Scatterbrain’, the new album from New Zealand legends The Chills, is an indelible and poignant thread that binds the album together – wry observations on the temporality of life and the transience of existence; delivered with a poetic simplicity and compassion. It is no wonder such …
Track: The Crayon Set release the blissfully bucolic ‘Don’t Step Back Too Far’: indie pop delivered with a graceful majesty
Dublin’s The Crayon Set have just unveiled the utterly gorgeous single ‘Don’t Step Back Too Far’: a fey, wistful track that is delicate and pastoral. Intriguingly built on a bubbling, liquid electronic surface, the vocals are melancholic and haunting with a melody that is intricate and holds fast. There is a tension between the message …
Track: Astrals releases the gorgeous, shimmering dream pop melodies of ‘Infinity Room’
Dreamy languorous vocals floating distantly above simple dappling guitars sum up the beautiful track from Sydney artist Astrals (Claire Simpson). The track evokes sunbeams and dreams with its delightfully fey vocals – wistful and distant – and indelible melodies. The track shimmers and floats in the air. Astrals says of the track: I’ve spent much …
Premiere: Seasurfer showcase stunning new video for ‘Pretend’ and announce limited vinyl release of album ‘Zombies’
Hamburg psych goth band Seasurfer released a magnificent and epic double album ‘Zombies, reviewed by me earlier this year. I wrote that it is an album packed full of anthemic dream pop songs that are differentiated from the pack by an electronic spine and dark-tinged gothic attack. Throughout the album, singer Apolonia’s voice is absolutely …
Track: Melbourne’s Oceans unveils the shimmering track ‘Break My Fall’ and announces the release of EP and launch
Melbournite Thomas Lee works under the name Oceans and his new single ‘Break My Fall’ is an immersive and delicious track with subtle switches between a shoegaze drone and a dreamy pop fugue. Lee’s voice haunts in the distance beneath a simmering razor-sharp guitar and synth wash, infused with a detached melancholia and indelible melodies. …
EP Review: Italian shoegaze outfit 7Mondays release sky-scraping debut EP ‘Sent’
Italian duo 7Mondays have just released their debut EP ‘Sent’: a collection of three songs that draw strongly on a shoegaze sound tempered with a touch of emo and post punk rock. The EP is topped and tailed by an intro and outro effects. Opening track ‘What’s Best to Die For’ is a shifting, changing …
Track: Allday unveils another atmospheric and dreamy track ‘Stolen Cars’
Allday (the moniker of Tom Gaynor) is proving to be a fine purveyor of melody-laden languid dream pop with the release of his new track ‘Stolen Cars’ ahead of the May release of his delightfully titled album ‘Drinking With My Smoking Friends’. Tales of illicit undertakings never sounded so smooth and melancholic: there is a delicious …
EP Review: Graywave unveils the seismic dream pop delight ‘Planetary Shift’
Here at Backseat Mafia, we have been lauding the dream pop aural landscapes Graywave has created through a series of singles released over the past year. Graywave – the nom de plume of West Midland’s multi-instrumentalist Jess Webberley – has now released an EP entitled ‘Planetary Shift’ through the boutique Brisbane label False Peak Records, …
See: Gordi unveils enigmatic and atmospheric video ‘Refractive’ – an evocative amalgam of tracks ‘Extraordinary Life’ and ‘Volcanic’ and announces news of live EP
Gordi, the name of Melbourne musician Sophie Payten’s solo work, is a living icon in the Australian music scene: her last album ‘Our Two Skins’ released in the middle of the COVID lockdown last year was a graceful and epic release, thrown into release by Payton’s extraordinary work as a doctor, assisting with understaffed local …