Living The Dream Pop - Bandcamp Explorer

  by Mark Rowland

published: 26 / 11 / 2022

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In his 'Bandcamp Explorer' column Mark Rowland examines the best of dream pop and shoegaze currently available on Bandcamp.

Reading Miki Berenyi’s excellent memoir ‘Fingers Crossed’ reminds you of how little the dream pop – or shoegaze – movement of the late 80s and early 90s was appreciated at the time. Overshadowed by Madchester, grunge and then Britpop, it was often dismissed as po-faced and pretentious; music for posh students, the one exception, of course, being My Bloody Valentine. Influenced by the dream pop artists that defined the 4AD label and sonic innovators such as the Jesus and Mary Chain, those bands appeared at a crossroads for music and lost. Many of those bands broke up without ever getting the recognition they deserved. In the 2010s, however, dream pop and shoegaze (which are pretty much the same thing) were reassessed as younger musicians discovered them and took inspiration. Bands such as Slowdive and Berenyi’s Lush reformed to drink in the renewed interest in their work – the former even releasing new music. So with dream pop becoming a dominant sound within indie in the 2010s, it’s about time we see what Bandcamp has to offer. It doesn’t take long to dig up a nice little EP by London’s Bleach Lab, ‘If You Only Feel It Once’. There’s a distinct Mazzy Star flavour to their music, but otherwise it sounds distinctly modern, and by modern, I mean a fusion of 80s and 90s sounds. It’s a nice, tight five-song EP and a great introduction to our foray into Bandcamp’s Dream Pop offerings. Belgium’s The Haunted Youth build on the modern dream pop sound with propulsive and atmospheric synth sounds. ‘Dawn of the Freak’, the instrumental opener on their new album by the same name, sets a chilly tone that slightly misleads the listener, as it’s followed by fairly perky, atmospheric rock – quite pacey as dream pop goes. These two releases are definitely more at the ‘pop’ end of dream pop. Puerto Rico’s Sueño con belugas is more experimental. A collaboration between several musicians in Puerto Rico’s music scene, ‘Memoria Cósmica’ is eight tracks designed to be listened to as one piece. It spans from eerie instrumentals to dramatic rock numbers to Cocteau Twins-like ethereal soundscapes. It’s a compelling listen that never gets boring. Here’s a question: do the dreams conjured up by dream pop artists always have to be nice? Texas’s Pale Dian makes ‘nightmare pop’, which takes the genre right back to its goth roots. Her latest album ‘Feral Birth’ sounds like a cross between The Cure’s ‘Pornography’ and the Cocteau Twins’ ‘Head Over Heels’. At the heavier end of the dream pop spectrum sits Funeral Homes, from Florida. There’s certainly a touch of My Bloody Valentine to their sound, along with touches of the slack indie rock that also came to the fore in the early 90s, but they also play with effects such as autotune, alt-folk and even metal in places. Their latest, ‘Blue Heaven’, is bigger sounding than their previous releases, bringing extra clarity to their fuzzy washes. Finally, a bit of disco-flavoured dream pop from the now defunct Wild Ones, whose unreleased songs, demo tracks and session recordings have been compiled on ‘Now You Know (Selected Songs 2010-2018)’. These are dream pop sounds you can dance to. Some of the demos may be for completists only, but the session tracks and unreleased songs are great, such as the frenetic ‘Jazz Cat’. So dream pop is very much alive, and more celebrated than its moment in the early 90s. It’s a genre that’s in danger of becoming homogenised as so many bands take direction from its trappings, but there’s currently enough variety out there to keep it interesting when the mood takes you.

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