Dream Pop has a somewhat overwhelming presence in the indie music landscape of 2018. Groups like Beach House, Tennis and American Football influenced a wide array of groups to make their own twinkling dreamlike soundscapes. What I can’t help but feel is that this genre is stuck in a rut of wanting that midwest emo twinkle without bringing anything novel to the table. The sound is so dominant and the albums so numerous I find myself asking myself “Why am I listening to this instead of American Football LP1?”. What I mean by this is: what about this record is gunna stick with me. While not all dream pop is really even that stylistically similar to American Football, I think comparing dream pop to the classic emo album is apt. They both attempt to use airy vocals and a laid back sound to inspire a peaceful reflective mood. American Football did this so well with their 1999 full length and their 1998 ep that they are still easily relevant in music discussion today even though midwest emo is mostly underground at this point.
The question then isn’t really about a direct comparison; really what I ask of any Dream Pop is for something thats gunna make me remember them. Sounding like the rest of the twinkle isn’t the way to accomplish that. I don’t however think that the genre is saturated and I want to highlight a few artists that I keep coming back to and why.
Alvvays – Upbeat pop songwriting backed with amazing vocals, and enough of a twist in their chord progressions to keep it from being boring (the Cmaj7 chord at the end of “In Undertow” kills me listen for it)
Frankie Cosmos- I don’t know how so many ideas are fit into such short tracks but they somehow manage it. They don’t dwell on one idea for too long and it makes listening to their albums really fun.
Japanese Breakfast- Absolutely incredible songwriting and arrangement, each of Michelle Zauner’s songs sound so so so unique. The entirety of Soft Sounds From Another Planet is so memorable so much so that reading a track title alone is enough for me to immediately remember the melody and sound.
A few others of note for me are Trace Mountains, Soccer Mommy, Diet Cig, Girlpool, and Adult Mom.
The end goal of any art within a certain genre doesn’t have to be novelty. Dream Pop is generally an enjoyable genre to listen to, and the Pitchfork flavour of the month dream pop album for whenever you are reading this is probably a good album. When a genre becomes saturated with a certain sound, it makes sense to go with the flow and incorporate that style. Unfortunately, a lot of the artists now likely won’t be remember purely because of the amount of other indie dream pop sort of emo sad emotionally vulnerable stuff out there. Only the best of the best is gunna stand out 10 years from now, which sucks because theres a lot of really good music out there that won’t get the same recognition if the genre was smaller. American Football stuck out because it was the only thing that sounded like that at the time and it also had the benefit of being really well executed (Steve Lamos’ drumming oh my lord). Similar quality work in Dream Pop exists to be sure, but the extra push of unique songwriting or instrumentation is what the acts that stick around will have.
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