Cardiff five piece Red Telephone share psychedelic synth pop sweller ‘Sentimental Dreaming’, taken from the upcoming album Delay The New Day.
Bringing washes of analogue synth, plucky bass and a punching four to the floor beat, the single creates a dreamlike atmosphere under the radiant, psychedelic lead vocals. Comparable to Tame Impala, the soundscape is at once danceable, catchy and strikingly alternative. Moving to a melancholic chorus that swaps the pulsing disco feel of the verse for a more ambient, contemplative tone, the track introduces layers of guitar into the second verse, emphasising the psychedelic rock undertones.
Ebbing and flowing its way through a second chorus and ambient middle eight, the track closes with a climactic final chorus complete with layers of pulsing arpeggiator and guitar, shifting from its Tame Impala-esque opening to a soundscape comparable to MGMT.
Lead singer Declan reflects on the process, explaining how the track crystallized after revisiting old practice recordings. “There was this one phone recording with this really rhythmic, catchy bassline by Dom,” he says. “We were basically recording it ten minutes later on the fly and didn’t leave the studio until about 2am. There was definitely some late-in-the-day chaos as we scrambled to get it over the line, but it added a different energy.” That energy led to an improvised guitar part by Kieran during the outro, a moment Declan describes as one of the album’s standout elements.
Lyrically, it delves into the bittersweet tension between the idealism of artistic dreams and the often harsh realities of chasing them. “There’s obviously this idealistic sentimentality in dreaming—it almost sounds like a sweet, harmless thing to do,” Declan muses. “But it’s deceptively powerful, because it can send us down paths that end up dictating not only behavior but entire periods of our lives and ways of living.”
Listen below:
