Album Review: Glass Animals Reach For The “Dreamland”
While listening to Glass Animals’ Dreamland, out August 7, I definitely did that “stank face” people make when they are really feeling the beat. Sonically, Dreamland pushed Glass Animals into exactly that: a dreamland! While their sound has always been eclectic and felt born from every Mario Bros video game I adored, Dreamland moves them from the arcade to the fantasy. In essence, you are Wreck-It-Ralph and you are going into that “game-world” to find out people have real emotions behind their automated moves.
Glass Animals – Heat Waves (Official Video)
“Automated moves!” In some ways, that is what Glass Animals are analyzing in tracks like, “Helium,” “Domestic Bliss, ”and “Tangerine.” The whole is full of beat changes, audios from home movies, and synths that fall like gum-drops from the sky as Dylan Bayley’s voice steadily floats through the routines we love, dream of, bore us, or end up becoming a concoction of all three. While I am convinced humanity can’t be pleased, in a way, Dreamland, lyrically, agrees with me. It sings to the “grass is greener” mind frames that can plant you in a moment or rip you from it, especially in relationships.
Glass Animals – Your Love (Déjà Vu) – Official Video
There are those that believe relationships bring stability, of which I say, “HA! Enjoy your dreamland!” (see what I did there) While love can bring us euphoria and heartbreak, it is the pressure we put on it to give us meaning and fulfillment that could break it. Thus, Dreamland ends up having a narrative feeling; as if Dylan Bayley has recorded an album/audiobook on the tale of characters realizing you can kill the joy of a relationship, life, or even a dream by demanding it becomes Joy incarnate.
Glass Animals | It’s All So Incredibly Loud
From “Dreamland” to “Your Love (Deja Vu)” the album is a sweet, succinct, and ambient look into what makes a person who they want to be and whether becoming that reveals to you it is not what you want. No matter what, the album feels made for headphones, and the times when you don’t want to do anything but lay out and listen to good music, which I am sure this pandemic has made a lot of people desire. For More Information On Glass Animals’ Dreamland, Out August 7, Click Here.
Glass Animals – Dreamland (Official Video)
