Rating: 8/10
Portugal’s Dreamweapon take their name from the 1990 Spacemen 3 live album Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music, who themselves took inspiration from the work of minimalist drone – or ‘Dream Music’ – visionary La Monte Young and a 1965 multimedia piece titled ‘Rites of The Dreamweapon’ by original The Velvet Underground drummer Angus MacLise. Fast-forward to 2018 and Dreamweapon, the band, are continuing to keep the torch burning – perfectly embodying the timeless mantras of less is always more and psychedelia as constantly-evolving pastiche.
Made up of 10000 Russos bassist Andre Couto, João Campos Costa and Edgar Moreira, Dreamweapon emerged in 2009 and have released an EP, a S/T debut LP and a handful of singles, whilst taking their immersive and unremitting live show around Europe.
Made up of four improvised compositions recorded in one take at their Porto practice space, Dreamweapon will be releasing second LP SOL on 16th February on Fuzz Club Records. Talking of the creative approach behind SOL, Andre explains: “We approached this album in a completely different way to our previous material. Firstly, we decided to record it ourselves which we’ve never done before and this opened up a lot more freedom to experiment and secondly, it’s our most truly-spontaneous record yet. We recorded the tracks live in one take as we all improvised over minimalistic drum-machine loops – this a real departure from the ‘song-based music’ we’re used to making.”
Opener ‘Mashinne’ is an eleven minute whirr of feedback, with oscillating synths, an endless motorik bass line and a minimalist drum progression. As musical elements are added with the tracks progression, a complex collaboration of complementary tones resonates thoughtfully and sees the listener sinking deep within. ‘Blauekirshe’ continues this perfectly with its hypnotic, distant bass overplayed by harrowing guitar and glimmers of reverberating vocals. ‘Qram’ starts with a curious collection of temple inspired sounds before progressing into the more traditional space rock sound we have come to know and love, with its fuzzy guitars and probing bass line. Concluding with ‘Monte da Virgem’, which also features on the compilation Reverb Conspiracy: Volume 5, this LP is over all too soon and the promise of another album already in the production somewhat quietens the angst.
This LP requires multiple play in order to get to grips with all the subtle nuances that Dreamweapon have cleverly devised to force their way into the subconscious, making it a must for any listener who likes the more complex.
Pre-order: https://fuzzclub.com/products/pre-order-dreamweapon-sol?variant=5178835075109
