Glass Animals have always been a bit different. Ever since they debuted in 2010, there haven’t been many pop bands making music that bridged pop, electronic and psychedelic elements with at times outrageous songwriting like this group of musicians. The trajectory of their 2016 breakthrough How To Be A Human Being was almost derailed by a bike accident that nearly killed their drummer Joe Seaward and obviously the pandemic, but they have released their new album Dreamland today.
As one might expect with Glass Animals, the album is strange and unique. It’s an immersive, psychedelic pop universe that demands your complete attention. It is a dreamland that unlike the fleeting nature of most dreams, grips you and holds onto you for its complete 45 minute duration.
It is bonkers, zany and a times insane like on “Melon and the Coconut” or “Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth,” but there are also straight up bangers like “Your Love (Déjà vu) and the bombastic hip-hop collaboration with Denzel Curry “Tokyo Drifting.”
However, the album isn’t all just sunshine and rainbows with tracks like “Domestic Bliss” tackling abusive relationships and the struggles of being with an emotionally manipulative person. There are tracks about the longing and pain of heartbreak “It’s All So Incredibly Loud” or emotional distance that opens between people on “Tangerine.”
Dreamland is both ready for a pool party in Malibu and for some zonked out 4am afterparty. It is the late addition for what you need to be listening to this summer. Dreamland is fun and at times serious, but overall the sort of album that feels at home with any sort of outdoor party for those with taste.
Pick up your copy of the project here.
