dream pop
EP Review: Garsa unveils debut EP ‘The Unfairity’ – a collection of intimate and sparkling jewels
It was around this time last year, plunging into the uncertainty of lockdown and without a full realisation of the horrors 2020 was about to unleash, that I came across a debut single by Garsa called ‘Jimmy Sour Highs’ – a singular ray of sunshine at the time. Martin Garside is Garsa – a solo …
Premiere: Italy’s shoegaze maestros Clustersun reveal visually stunning video for the brilliant track ‘All Your Pain’, and announce new album ‘Avalanche’ for May
We are very honoured to premiere today the visually stunning new video from Italian shoegaze band CLUSTERSUN for their dreamy single ‘All Your Pain’. And to add to the lustre, Backseat Mafia can reveal that CLUSTERSUN will be releasing their third album ‘Avalanche’ on 20 May 2021 through Icy Cold Records (Europe) and Little Cloud …
Track: Melbourne’s Tim Ayre launches low-fi dream pop delight ‘Mexican Holiday’ and announces news of EP
The story behind the new single, ‘Mexican Holiday’, from Tim Ayre has all the hallmarks of a Hunter S Thompson fable involving unhinged characters, consumption of illicit substances, wild journeys and all manners of excess. Appropriate, then, that the song and accompanying video has a bright effervescent indie pop low-fi vibe that exudes a whiff …
Track and Album News: Lightning Bug offers up stunning, dreamy, lead single ahead of third album release
Purveyors of dreamy, transportative musicscapes, Lightning Bug, have just announced the release of their third album – ‘A Color of the Sky’ – which is out on their new label, Fat Possum on 25th June; you can pre-order the album here. Lightning Bug is the brainchild of musicians and friends Audrey Kang, Kevin Copeland and Logan …
Album Review: The Ghost of Helags unveil the shimmering and impressingly beautiful album ‘We Came From the Stars’
Here at Backseat Mafia HQ we have been following synth pop duo The Ghost of Helags for a while – covering a series of extraordinary beautiful dreamy singles and even capturing a live session of single ‘Chemistry’. The Berlin-based Swedish duo have collected all the singles together and added more tracks to release an exquisite …
Track: Graywave – ‘Swallow’: a darker final drop from her forthcoming EP
WE’VE fallen pretty damn hard for Graywave, the self-styled “dreampop from the West Midz” project of Jess Webberley, on a couple of occasions in recent times; there was her previous single “Before”, from the beginning of the year, which we noted as being “full of that thrill and dusky elegance you get from the Cocteau …
Track: Offshore Projects’ new single ‘The Way I Fear’ is a mesmerising indie pop delight.
Sydney singer-songwriter Jonas Nicholls, formerly of indie pop outfit SURES, has continued down this path with the release of the shimmering track ‘The Way I Fear’, under the name Offshore Projects. The chiming, bubbling guitars form a lovely circular and chunky base up on which Nicholl’s voice soars – melancholic and heavenly harmonies form a …
Album Review: Jessica’s ‘The Space Between’ is an immersive masterpiece of haunting dream pop
Backseat Mafia had the pleasure of premiering the track ‘Silence’ from Sydney artist Jessica last week which lead inexorably to listening to the source album ‘The Space Between’. And what a completely immersive and enthralling journey this album is. ‘The Space Between’ as a whole is impossibly beautiful – quiet, reflecting vignettes filled with a …
Track: An Early Bird unveils the hauntingly beautiful single Fishes in the Ocean
Stefano Di Stefano is Italian outfit An Early Bird – and an artist Backseat Mafia has been following closely ever since we sprang into production way back in 2013. Stefano came into our view with a band called Pipers before setting off on a very successful solo career. Stefano is the archetypal romantic troubadour of …
Album Review: Flyying Colours’ new album ‘Fantasy Country’ is a smashing and cathartic dose of shoegaze sparkle
The anthemic and statuesque ‘Goodtimes’ kicks opens the doors of the new and blistering album ‘Fantasy Country’ by Melbourne band Flyying Colours. And what you get at the beginning is what you can expect through to the end of this extremely enjoyable and highly rewarding album. In ‘Goodtimes’ there is an amusing tension between the …