Dreamwave

“New Banger” NME

“Like a cosmic comet streaking across the sky…their sound is churning tempest” Still Listening 

“It looks like we have all the paraphernalia of a psyche rock masterpiece: scuzzy guitars dipped in the Ancient Springs of Reverb, an unreachable rainbow of drawbar organs showing you colours that may or may not actually be there…” The Most Radicalis

Out today (3rd May) DIY psych quartet Dreamwave share debut EP Dreamwave and The Mindcave via Velvet Echoes.

Coming off the back of recent singles ‘Mindcave’ and ‘Hidden Sun’, which brought the band the backing of NME, BBC Introducing, Still Listening, Blogotheque, Wax Music, The Most Radicalist and Mix It All Up, the full 6-track collection serves up a deliciously diverse, and tightly-crafted 20 minute package, one that absorbs all the best global neo-psychedelia from the last 15 years and remoulds it into Dreamwave’s own DIY image.

Leading the way with new single 'Void'  - which rollicks and rolls with space-age synths and Osees-like reverberations; opener ‘En Traverse’ too chews up a gnarled-yet-steady motorik groove a la vintage Krautrock. On the softer end of the spectrum too, Dreamwave enjoy moments of dazzling prettiness: the levitation room-esque psych-pop joys of closer ‘Daydrifting’, or the spellbinding dream-pop gooiness of ‘Hidden Sun’ are each as fluffy and light as clouds.

Recorded at Wiltshire’s Nine Volt Studios next to an abandoned swingers’ club, The EP sees the band keep true to an ad hoc DIY ethos. Keeping elements of songwriter Ben Symonds’ home-demos - some dating from when he was 15 - the EP mingles rough live-takes, outdoor microphones, and vocals recorded through a Chad Valley Sing Along to produce a record bristling with sonic exploration and child-like joy, as the band explain:

“The songs have been plucked from moments in Ben’s life, giving the E.P. an incoherent timeline of intimacy. The lyrical content portrays loneliness, psychedelic states, desire and hope: all key themes in the Black Libraries' Warhammer novels and Star Wars. Humour is ever present in this band, who chose the artwork to be a picture of 7-year-old Ben in a dinosaur outfit beamed into a UFO. They managed to represent everything about the intimacy of the E.P. whilst simultaneously touching on the obscure.”

More about Dreamwave:

Dreamwave's story began in Brighton in 2018 when friend (and future keyboardist/vocalist) Hester Battin heard the demos of University housemates Benjamin Symons (Guitar/vocals) and Cameron Organ (bass) and persuaded them to play at a show she was promoting at The Bee’s Mouth. A four-piece eventually formed - completed by drummer Alex Andrews, and moved west to their collective Bristol hometown, united by their mutual love of psychedelia and krautrock.

Self-releasing a pair of home-recorded efforts - bringing them backing from BBC Introducing Bristol, a performance at last year’s Glastonbury festival, plus support slots for international psych figureheads Holy Wave, Boogarins, Night Beats and System Exclusive (of Castle Face Records) - Dreamwave and The Mindcave EP represents the band’s first major studio recording to date.