By Nadeem Zafar
Introduction
Imagine yourself being thrusted deeply into the mind of another person, so deep – that you start to wonder if your feelings are real. You start to slowly drift off into a little island, dominated by you, and only you. You start to slowly encapsulate yourself with many different feelings of joy, depression, hatred, resentment, and compassion. A cocktail of emotions bounces off the walls of your mind – as you tune into, perhaps one of the more adventurous albums by Glass Animals.
Glass Animals is an indie pop, alternative rock, and psychedelic 4-piece band, from Oxford, England – formed back in 2010. Ever since their inception, they’ve released 3 studio albums, and countless singles in between them. Critics have acclaimed them as one of the more creative sounding indie pop bands, with their earlier albums borrowing elements from the early 2000’s, and 2010’s indie bands like The Strokes, White Stripes, and Bloc Party. Without dwelling too far into their discography, it's safe to say that the first 2 albums were mostly psychedelic, alternative based pieces of music – with heavy emphasis on the aesthetics, something they tend to do very often.
Their most recent album from 2020, is the relatively unknown “Dreamland”. Produced by the lead singer, Dave Bayley, and played by his 3 band mates (Ed Irwin Singer, Drew MacFarland and Joe Seaward), this album grew to captivate its audience, especially with its hooky, and ill-placed lyrics, the beautifully mixed synths, bass and brass, and of course the heavy amounts of pop-culture references dotted around the album.
Dreamland’s Quirks
Their newest album, Dreamland, showcases the band’s ability to turn real life stories (Including the life of Dave, and his bandmates) into songs that seem so out of this world, and conceptually different from any other songs in the scene. Songs like Helium challenges that notion of society pushing you too far, and it also addresses how one would feel love for the first time – only to see it slowly erode away. The titular track “Dreamland”, also involves sentiments on how society wants you to be a certain way, and how it can lead to disastrous consequences when a person is forced to face this. The world-wide chart topping single, Heat Waves dives deep into the matters associated with losing someone. Every song on the album explores a wide variety of themes linked to a person “growing up” and “maturing”. It showcases the band’s ability to be flexible with their lyrics as well – which I will delve into later on, Dreamland might perhaps have the jankiest melodies and lyrics of any
Perhaps the Best of them All
I’d like to start off with what I personally think are the most interrelated songs on the album, Dreamland, Helium, Heat Waves and Domestic Bliss. With the exception of Heat Waves, this is where Glass Animals shines when it comes to incorporating reverbed synths, and high-pitched vocals that is Dave’s signature style. Coupled with sequences of riverbed Mellotron chords – Glass Animals manages to perfectly arrange them in such a way that each song has its distinctive style, all while being very related to each other. In terms of context – these songs are possibly the richest. Domestic Bliss deals with Dave’s interpretation of domestic abuse (“I see the bruises / I see the truth / I see what he did'') of one of his close friends.
Helium addresses the process of one maturing (”Helium balloons float up away”) and it also addresses Dave’s feelings of love for the first time, and the preceding feelings (“But we’re sunflowers in the rain”). Dreamland also dives into one of Dave’s friends, who bought a gun to start a school shooting. (“You were 10 years old, holdin’ hands in the classroom / He had a gun on the first day of high school”) It also explores the pressures associated with societal expectations, and the “introspection” process associated with it. On the other hand, some might argue the context for the song Heat Waves to be too washed out, and cliché. It dwells into the loss of love, but it also involves one of Dave’s early friends, who happened to pass away in the month of June, hence the chorus; “Sometimes all I think about is you / Late nights in the middle of June”.
The More Eloquent Three
Moving onto the other host of songs, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Waterfalls Coming out your Mouth, and Your Love (Déjà vu) also, personally, sound and are based on a similar context. It is here that the hip-hop, drum-heavy aspect of Glass Animals is brought out, especially in Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth which features a typical trap beat and melodic chorus plus hook. It is also in these 3 songs, that Glass Animals’ ability to write dynamic lyrics with meanings that are open to interpretation to the nth degree is showcased the best.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast dives even deeper into Dave’s encounter with the friend that brought a gun to school. He goes on to describe how he feels regretful about his friend’s choices, and goes on to ridicule what society thinks makes school shooters do what they do. (“Doom, Quake, where'd you get that gun from eh?”). Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth features typical elements of trap, and hip hop – with the funky, and weirdly placed lyrics, it's easy to forget the true meaning of the song. That being said, talking about certain things nonsensically (“You taste like surfing videos' '), without understanding the consequences of it, “Waterfalls coming out your mouth”, symbolizes the mess of words flowing freely down your mouth. Your Love (Déjà vu) however, takes on a more adult issue of being part of a toxic relationship. The heavy marching drums symbolize Dave’s urge to get out of this relationship – that he finds himself stuck in more often than not. (“And I’m backsliding / Into this just one more time”)
The Three Outcasts
The more miscellaneous songs in the album, Melon and the Coconut, Its All So Incredibly Loud, and Hot Sugar – all bear features that make it distinct from the other pieces. Melon and the Coconut is technically not an auditorily unique piece of music – and the shallow lyrics, and poor mixing, make them look like low-key filler songs in the album. With no deep meaning, Melon and the Coconut is at its core, a personification of two people breaking up with each other. (“Melon and the coconut are sitting on the floor / Coco said to Melly, I can’t do this anymore”) It's All So Incredibly Loud however, comes straight off to highlight the high-notes the lead singer can hit. To add to this, it sounded very distinct from the general direction of the other songs, as it includes more drums, and an absence of their signature riverbed synths, and organs.
Funnily enough, the song revolves around the “intense feeling” one can feel when bad news is broken to them. The chorus, “Whispers would deafen me now” signifies how detrimental, and how heavy those few moments after bad news is broken, is to a particular person. The song Hot Sugar however, is a definite ode to previous songs. Incorporating elements of synth, a high-pitched flute, and what seems to be a violin at the start of the song. In fact, Dave in an interview stated that this particular song was inspired by New Orleans “Bounce” music, where features of early hip-hop dominate the genre of music. Similar to Helium, the song deals with relationships – and the intricacies of what it exactly is. Dave goes on to detail about how this particular person is not in love, but rather, in love with her persona. (“So cool, but we don’t talk”). Additionally, this track features the band’s quirks for weirdly placed lyrics that initially sound like a bunch of gibberish. (” Long black tulips / Born in your blue tints / Lemongrass eyelids / Smoke in your slick lips”). In keeping with Dave's signature airy voice, this particular song sounds almost like a space orchestra – to the likes of David Bowies, “Space Oddities”.
Sounds Like Pure Bliss?
The two remaining songs in the album, include the catchy, tropical “Tangerine”, and the psychedelic hip-hop rap track, “Tokyo Drifting” with Denzel Curry. The track Tangerine is undoubtedly the most memorable track out of the album, and the most sonically challenging one as well. With the song luring you in with its tropical beats, the reverb-heavy Mellotron chord progression, and the drum hi hats and kicks – the entire track feels like a drive down a palm-tree lined avenue, with the car’s top down. Tokyo Driftin, a collaboration with Floridian rapper Denzel Curry, however, is a whole different feel. With it being a traditional hip-hop track, this song features a lot of heavy drum kicks, and a continuous hihat played throughout the track. Additionally, the heavy drums are coupled with a soft synth in the background, and of course the usual reverbed Mellotron sounds.
Compared to the rest of the tracks on the album, these tracks contain much less substance and meaning compared to the other tracks. Amidst all these references, there’s a sneaky Karate Kid (The first one) reference, with “As focused as Mr. Miyagi”, the context making more sense as we dive deeper. The song mainly focuses on the feeling of lost love, especially between a mother and a father, who seem to have their insecurities take the best of each other; “I can’t keep on making you happy / Are you stuck in your own ways?”. But, as the chorus goes – “I’m beggin’, hands, knees please / Tangerine come on back to me” symbolizes how even after they part ways, they always find their way back to each other.
Tokyo Driftin’ on the other hand has a very vague meaning, and is more of a shout out to Dave’s alter ego, “Wavey Davey' ' who has featured appearances in previous albums. (“Wavey Davey’s on fire / Yeah you still got it alright”). More often than not, this alter ego often finds himself in the crux of all the issues like drug or domestic abuse, or failed love etc. Lines such as, “Drug lust, send two packets in your pocket”, evoke those sentiments that Dave has not felt personally, but can transgress those feelings through an alter ego. Towards the end, Curry’s half uplifts the entire song – giving it more depth, and even adding to the sheer grittiness, and roughness of the song.
Thoughts?
Overall, Dreamland manages to encapsulate all the sentiments brought out in Glass Animal’s previous albums, and puts a new, fresh spin on it. The elements of vaporwave - which derives itself from nostalgic, Japanese inspired synth-based beats – add that extra layer of nostalgia, further enhancing the album, which is already so autobiographical. With songs like Heat Waves dominating the charts, and sitting right in the Top 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 – it is pretty easy for the average listener to overlook other songs by the album.
Dreamland is the mere definition of the perfect balance and epitome between synth, airy vocals, psychedelic-inspired music that beautifully induces a thought-provoking feeling of nostalgia in the listener. Something that many modern-day albums fail to achieve. In addition to this, the sheer amount of aesthetics, and even the pop-culture references within the album – makes it so that this album itself, becomes the literal example of future vaporwave inspired albums and tracks.
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