Bristol psych-rock outfit Dreamwave release a double E.P. featuring Drifter and Moon Dogs, marking the next step in their collaboration with Stolen Body Records. The release follows a run of major live moments, including supporting Frankie and The Witch Fingers at The Garage, standout festival appearances at Wild Paths and Down Stokes, and three packed-out sets at Left of the Dial, including highlight performances at De Doelen and V11 in Rotterdam. Sharing stages with Wine Lips and The Bug Club, Dreamwave have quickly become one of the most exciting and fast-rising live acts in the UK psych scene. Two EPs, one essential 12″—”Drifter” on one side, “Moon Dogs” on the flip.
Dreamwave’s new album, technically their debut recording, brings together their two EPS – “Moon Dogs” and “Drifter”, and the two releases actually segue rather well into each other, so it does actually stand up as a singular work in its own merit. “Drifter”, which makes up the second part of the record, begins thunderously with the brilliant ‘Moon Buggy’ and it’s so psychedelic,
Not for nothing is it called ‘Moon Buggy‘ I guess. Not only that, but the guitar riffery is something that Tony Iommi would have been proud of in his early seventies Black Sabbath meanderings, while ‘Web Weaver‘ feels like the band have taken you even further into space. This one has a melody that is more akin to The Specials‘ classic ‘Do The Dog‘, but totally psyched out to the point of not really being recognisable as such.
‘Space Debris‘ is more comparable to the more creative side of Blur, particularly around the period of Modern Life Is Rubbish, before ‘Murmurs On The Dunes‘ unleashes its brutal assault on your ears. The noisy fuzz of the guitars here have their roots in My Bloody Valentine‘s Loveless without actually sounding anything like them, or it, but you definitely get a similar kind of feeling.
‘Over You‘ really does sound like BRMC though. Not a bad thing though – it’s brash and exciting and they incorporate some late sixties psych-rock into proceedings too, so they do make this sound their own, in the best way possible.he tracks from the “Moon Dogs” EP, which are almost as great, with the sound of Glam Rock pulsing through ‘Polystyrene Irene‘ and the unexpectedly commercial ‘Seeking To Remain‘ This song is as catchy as the latter single was and more, and ‘Wide Shooter‘ is like a wild cross between Devo, Sparks and Boney M‘s ‘Ma Baker‘! This is a wonderfully unpredictable, absolute blast of an album. They ought to be huge.
The Fat Angel Sings 