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Labeling Conversations as “dream pop” would be to do it a disservice. This isn’t some formulaic collection of by-the-numbers, post-chillwave, bedroom recorded, melancholic pop music, but rather an assortment of influences and ideas, a willingness to experiment with sounds and structure. For example, the album’s shortest song (excluding a forty second instrumental piece), ‘All In The Name Of Good Dancing’, clocks in at under two minutes, whereas ‘Dream Talk’, the album’s sprawling midsection, breaks the ten minute barrier.

The album opens with ‘Drift Down’, which you can see in video form below. The song is perfectly titled, feeling like the soundtrack to a slow and gentle descent. Next up is ‘Familiar Ground’ which starts slow and considered and builds into a climax that shimmers and swirls like something by Beach House.

‘The Bear’ is a Gothic folk fairytale, reserved and slightly creepy, like Timber Timbre whispering as they fall asleep. It tells the tale of a journey into the woods and an encounter with a grizzly bear.

“Trapped we are inside this place, 
trapped we will dig our own graves

But the bear will keep us safe,
if we only do one thing for him.”

Perhaps one for your alternative Halloween mixtape?

The aforementioned ‘Dream Talk’ descends into a lovely throbbing murmur, with barely audible vocals that echo and fade, not entirely unlike Julianna Barwick. ‘Ill’ is devastatingly sad and pretty, opening with the line, “try to pretend you’re not dying”, it captures the same mournful air of The Antlers’ brilliant album, Hospice. Next, ‘All In The Name of Dancing’ changes the tone, a Memoryhouse style pop song. The album closer (this time excluding an instrumental/ambient bonus track) ‘Chairs’ is all dreamy and pretty for a while and then begins a slightly surreal acceleration and ends in some kind of muted frenzy.

Check out the video for ‘Drift Down’ below:

You can get Conversations on a pay-what-you-want basis via the band’s Bandcamp page. It’s not often you find ‘free’ music with as much heart and attention to detail as this, so please dig deep and give the band a little something, they deserve it.

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Aquarena blends the folk rock of bands like My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses, the nostalgic dreaminess of Beach House and the psychedelic tendencies of The War on Drugs. It’s a winning combination and one that could bring a great degree of success, especially as the band are readying their debut full-length record in time for the summer (release is scheduled for the 13th of May).

Until then, you can get Aquarena on limited edition 10″ vinyl via Bandcamp.

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Tracklisting:

1. Lovecrimes (Frank Ocean Cover) – The Afghan Whigs
2. Little Dreamer (Future Islands Cover) – Doe Paoro
3. Bad Days (Flaming Lips Cover) – Siskiyou
4. Again (Janet Jackson Cover) – How To Dress Well
5. Dog Song (Mountain Man Cover) – Stupid Loser
6. Celebrated (Husker Du Cover) – Mark Kozelek
7. Say Say Say (Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney) – Woodpigeon
8. Zebra (Beach House Cover) – Yellow Ostrich
9. Atmosphere (Joy Division Cover) – Flowers Of Hell
10. Climbing Up The Walls (Radiohead Cover) – The Twilight Sad
11. Islands In The Stream (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton) – Constantines & Feist
12. Louie Louie (Richard Berry/The Kingsmen Cover) – The Royal Iguana Fur
13. Harvest Moon (Neil Young Cover) – The Sour Notes
14. Into The Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Paul Baribeau
15. Forgiveness (Patty Griffin Cover) – The Local Strangers
16. Calling And Not Calling My Ex (Okkervil River Cover) – Ola Podrida
17. Please Please Please Let M Get What I Want (The Smiths Cover) – Pickering Pick
18. Jesus, Etc. (Wilco Cover) – Bill Fay
19. Look At Miss Ohio (Gillian Welch Cover) – Blind Pilot
20. The Party’s Over/No Children (Willie Nelson/Mountain Goats Cover) – Manchester Orchestra

Please support the artists by exploring their other releases and becoming huge and dedicated fans.

The Covers Mix: Volume #4 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post The Covers Mix: Volume #4 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Vestige, the second single from San Francisco’s Pair of Arrows, recently popped into our inbox and it immediately grabbed me with its seductive mix of Beach House-inspired dream pop and The xx style late-night electronics. This sounds like it could be huge in a few months. Download the track for free via their Soundcloud and also listen to their debut single Superimposed while you’re there.

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The music itself is multi-layered and very creative. This is illustrated by the opening minute or so of the album’s first track Mighty Love, which uses the sound of a person crunching over snow or gravel as percussion, before melting away into a dreamy jam complete with hazy vocals, synths, tropical drums and even rainsticks.

The 12” vinyl of the album is cut to allow continuous play of each side, allowing each song to seamlessly flow into the next. If you’re simply downloading the album in mp3 form then I strongly recommend adjusting the preferences in your player to allow gapless playback. Pay what you want for a download or buy the vinyl here or from Gold Robot Records.

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