ALBUM REVIEW: Dreaming In Dystopia – Dirty Sound Magnet

Swiss psychedelic rock trio DIRTY SOUND MAGNET are clearly a talented bunch of musicians with eclectic musical tastes. Previous albums have drawn comparisons to late 60s PINK FLOYD and THE DOORS and, while those influences are clear on this, their fourth album, there are also real hints of West Coast psych legends SPIRIT and LOVE here, particularly in the more experimental sections of the songs. Dreaming In Dystopia is very much an album that looks to both the past and the present in terms of its songwriting and production. Stylistically, it’s a hard one to pin down, which reflects the band’s attitude to their musical output, pushing boundaries at every opportunity and taking the listener on a real journey from start to finish.

Album opener and first single Melodies From Distant Shores sets out the band’s stall, starting with the sound of waves lapping lazily at a distant shore, a feeling that continues through the complex, folky guitar and vocal lines that follow, evoking a time long past where music and minds could be as free as the ocean that opens the song itself. Later, the drums come in and the band settles into an almost acid-jazz-infused groove that locks the song down and drives it home.

There are also hints of SUPER FURRY ANIMALS in here, partly due to the charming vocal delivery of Stavros Dzodzos, which strangely enough matches that of Gruff Rhys in both tone and (somehow) in accent. The links to Gruff Rhys don’t stop there, though, as the track Utopia conjures vivid images of the Great Old West, all the way down to its reverb-heavy brass sections and multi-layered backing harmonies, reminiscent of Rhys’ excellent American Interior album. It’s like listening to Ennio Morrocone on acid and invites you to completely immerse yourself in the soundscape it establishes.

This atmosphere is continued on much of the album thanks in part to the production, which gives the instruments a great deal of space to shimmer, particularly during some of the more impressively jammed guitar solos that stretch through the middle of many of the songs. The drums are tightly compressed in a classic 60s style, while the guitar and bass remain on the treble-heavy side of things, adding a spacey feeling to proceedings, most successfully on the track Flowers, Angels And Chaos.

This song, though, is also an example of where the formula starts to run dry as unfortunately it sometimes verges on parody, particularly when it shows signs of overused psychedelic tropes, like the semi-nonsensical lyrics and atonal, high-pitched backing vocals. It’s a tough old game when your sound is so rooted in a genre that has been such a massive part of Western popular culture for so long. Even the title suggests a long-lost b-side to SPINAL TAP’s (Listen To The) Flower People and there are a few sections of other songs on the record that veer a little too closely to the Peter Gabriel ‘dressed as a mad daffodil’ end of the psychedelic spectrum.

However, there is still much to love here, particularly when your mind is able to drift away with some of those floaty, expansive soundscapes the band build so deftly. Clearly, DIRTY SOUND MAGNET are a talented bunch with a wonderfully eclectic taste in music and, for better or worse, they have attempted to include a little bit of every single one of those musical tastes on this album. In parts this is pulled off with aplomb and the band should be applauded for their ambition and creativity, even if sometimes it doesn’t quite work out.

Rating: 6/10

Dreaming In Dystopia is set for release on October 20th via Wild Thing Records.

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