Dreamwell: You Won’t Get To Be Surprised
DREAMWELL were ready to follow up their breakthrough album before it had even been released. Now technically counted as their debut, 2021’s Modern Grotesque was one of the best post-hardcore records of the year in question and one that saw the band quickly snapped up by the mighty Prosthetic Records. But if being on a bigger label – or indeed having already made such a brilliant ‘first’ effort – brought with it any pressure, none of that shows on their even more outstanding new album In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You.
“I think we’re lucky in that we started writing this album before Modern Grotesque even came out, so it was kind of nice to not have to go into writing with a blank slate after we realised people actually cared about this band,” explains guitarist Aki McCullough. “We were like, ‘at least we have a starting point for the next album’, and we were already confident that we could write songs that would be as good and honestly better than the ones on Modern Grotesque.”
They still took their time though; with bassist Justin Soares away studying in Iowa – a fair whack from the band’s base in Providence, Rhode Island – In My Saddest Dreams came together in more focused periods of writing over consecutive summers, with the band smashing out the final chunk upon Soares’ return last June. The results, as mentioned, mark a notable step up even on the excellent Modern Grotesque, with seemingly no idea of genre off the table as DREAMWELL push at the very edges of what post-hardcore can be.
“Every album that we’ve done has felt stronger and stronger just because we get better at telling each other if our shit sounds like shit or not,” laughs the band’s other guitarist Ryan Couitt. “We’re kinda always on each other’s back as far as parts sounding better or if something is just completely obtuse that’s happening… I think part of being in the room all together and actually writing instead of sending shit through email back and forth you get to feel those issues out a lot quicker and more efficiently.”
“I think we’ve all had to accept that if we’re bringing something to the band to play that it belongs to all of us now,” concurs McCullough. “And maybe you have an attachment to a way that an idea was originally presented, but we’re trusting in each other that our collective vision is the strongest one even if it’s different from how the idea was brought forth originally.”
It is this collective vision perhaps that ensures DREAMWELL maintain such a keen sense of their own identity even as they may dabble in blackgaze or doom metal or alt-rock or metallic hardcore or indeed anything else that finds its way onto In My Saddest Dreams. “I think that all of us have been doing music for long enough that we all kind of have our individual styles as musicians,” suggests McCullough. “Like [vocalist] KZ [Staska] is gonna sound like KZ, each of the instrumentalists plays like each of us does, and because of that I think we’re able to consciously explore new sounds and still have it sound like us.”
The live experience is crucial too; all the material on In My Saddest Dreams received a run out before the band entered the studio to record with Ryan Stack – admittedly somewhat out of necessity because they’d had so little time to practise. “Before we even record them we make sure we can play them first,” emphasises Couitt. “When we’re recording is when we get to do the extra experimental stuff where Aki kind of sits and tinkers with the transitional ideas, but the basic skeleton of the song is always like no matter what we have to be able to play it before we make it an actual song.”
Of course, it would be a waste of a conversation if we didn’t get into some of the issues closest to DREAMWELL’s heart. The band have multiple trans and non-binary members and they’ve seen a lot in their time in the scene – some of it encouraging and some of it truly terrifying. “I would say compared to 10 years ago it’s drastically way more of an accepting and diverse scene just in general,” offers Couitt. “Whether that be more queer people or just more femme people in general, or even other nationalities and shit. I think it’s definitely going in the right direction. There’s certainly always pockets that are still weird and are struggling, but as far as what we’re playing I’ve been seeing great things.”
“One of the keys to representation is there being more trans musicians in music which means removing those barriers to transition,” adds McCullough on what more needs to be done. “Seeing trans people on stage helps other people realise that you can be trans and live a happy life, and people have said that to me. I think if we keep giving space to trans musicians to perform, then that’s going to keep happening and that’s what these fucking shitty people are so scared of.”
Fearless in every aspect then, from how they express themselves on stage, to every swing they’re willing to take in their music, DREAMWELL are a truly special band, and In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You is without question one of the best and most ambitious albums of the year – but just watch them top it again when the time comes for their next one.
In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You is set out now via Prosthetic Records.
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