dream pop
Track: Barrie – Drag, plus EP and tour news
Perfect purveyors of melancholy dream pop, Barrie, are back with a new single, ‘Drag’ off their soon to be released EP ‘Happy to be Here (Ext) – a delightful extension (as the name suggests) to their album ‘Happy to be Here’ reviewed by me in April. ‘Happy to be Here’ is pure unadulterated sparkling pop, and …
See: Bodywash Tease New Video Ahead of Debut Album
Montreal dream pop quintet Bodywash premiered the haunting video for their new single, ‘With Heat’, ahead of the release of their debut album ‘Comforter’ on August 30th via Luminelle Recordings. The fuzz guitar-dominated song apparently deals with the feeling of being unable to escape something toxic. You can check it out here. No details of …
Track: Night Flowers – Fortune Teller, plus album news
Last year’s single ‘Cruel Wind’ from London quartet Night Flowers was for me one of the singles of the year in a very competitive field. This year, Night Flowers have released another perfect dream pop delight in the form of ‘Fortune Teller’, title track from their much anticipated album due out on 25 October through …
Track: Underground Lovers – Seven Day Weekend, plus Album and Tour News
Melbourne’s legendary Underground Lovers have released a new single, ‘Seven Day Weekend’ as well as announcing the release of their tenth album ‘A Left Turn’ on 11 October 2019 along with a tour of Australia. I’m unashamedly a massive fan of this criminally underrated band and it feels like Christmas. ‘Seven Day Weekend’ is a …
EP Review: Why Sun – Frugte
Copenhagen trio why sun describe their sound as ‘sleepy noise’. It’s an interesting attempt to coin a new sub-genre, but I can hear little going on here besides straight up dream pop. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. Within their new EP ‘Frugte”s opening moments, it’s clear that the band’s timing of …
Album Review: Gena Rose Bruce – Can’t Make You Love Me
Since covering her single ‘Blazing Radio’ back in 2014, we here at Backseat Mafia have keenly followed the career of Melbourne’s Gena Rose Bruce and it is with great joy to declare her debut album, ‘Can’t Make You Love Me’, a promise strongly delivered. There can be no doubt that Bruce’s style has matured and …
Album Review: The Raft – Abloom
Backseat Mafia has been following with great delight the prolific releases of The Raft for the last few years – a series of brilliant EPs that somehow capture an unique Liverpudlian pop sensibility. The Raft have released a full album, containing the previously released single ‘Xanadu’, and it represents a glorious evolution and development of …
Track: Imperial Daze – People are Animals
Following a brilliant debut last year with one of my favourite singles of last year, ‘Always Settling’, Peckham’s Imperial Daze are back with another fantastic single ‘People are Animals’. Of the release, the band says it “hints at the glaring contradiction that, although we are ever more digitally connected, these digital connections can ultimately be …
Track: Wildhoney – Naive Castle
Slumberland Records have been a mighty presence within the independent community since their formation 30 years ago. This is a label who have worked with such indie luminaries as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Stereolab, Dum Dum Girls and even Flying Nun alum Robert Scott via. The Bats. Risky to some but perhaps …
Track: Ummagma – Caravan
Dreamy dream pop duo Ummagma take a surprising direction in their new single, ‘Caravan’. It’s a thumpingly percussive missile, tilted forward and racing like a sprinter in a 100m run. With a slight arabic air that is almost reminiscent of Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, there is a sparkling arpeggio with the intertwined vocals of …