By John Morris, Staff Writer
The first time I listened to the band Glass Animals, I didn’t really get it. I still don’t think the band can be sold to anyone with one song. Even “Dreamland,” the titular track of their most recent album, didn’t give me a strong impression of the album to come.
If you give the entirety of “Dreamland” a listen, you’ll come away happy to have at least experienced their unique sound and weird production that pulls you into songs filled with lyrics riddled with nostalgic memories of past days. These lyrics present a theme of the album which is echoed by the production.
They capture the lead singer’s past by using instruments the band felt The Beatles and The Beach Boys would use and mixing with samplers used by both Timbaland and Dr. Dre. To bring the listeners to his own memory, audio clips from the lead singer’s past are turned into little ditties all a minute or less in length. These are sprinkled throughout the album in an effective way that keeps them present while not making it too busy.
After getting past the first song, the album shines with great song after great song.
The entire stretch from the light, upbeat “Tangerine” to the intense “Tokyo Drifting” with a short but strong feature from Denzel Curry, makes the album worth the try alone. They highlight the strengths of the band and give a pretty strong taste of the best Glass Animals have to offer. “Tangerine” has the catchy beat that you’ll find yourself nodding or tapping along to. “Hot Sugar” opens up with an odd intro that transitions seamlessly into a groovy song which is a tough contender for the best song of the album.
“Space Ghost Coast to Coast” has a focus on clever lyrics that reflects on the serious topic of school shootings while still managing to fit in with the theme of the album. “Tokyo Drifting” showcases Glass Animals’ production at its best, and I’m never bored until Curry’s verse (though it remains the highlight of the track).
“Melon and the Coconut” stops this momentum as the band dips a bit too much into a style of rap that does not mesh well with their tone and it shows. Fortunately, it’s the only really sour song on the album. “Your Love” and “Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth” both do good work to make up for “Melon and the Coconut”. Another lull hits at “It’s All So Incredibly Loud,” though fans of their longer, slower songs may enjoy it.
“Domestic Bliss” sets up the end of the album well, giving a meaningful recollection of a woman he knew as a child was in an abusive relationship in a well-produced and catchy track. This is followed up by “Heat Waves” which dives into the vulnerable feelings of a breakup in which one understands that there’s nothing they can do about it. The simple but deep lyrics mixed with the fantastic instrumental behind it puts this as the song of the album for sure. “Helium” is good, but “Heat Waves” deserved to be the final song. “Helium” is my favorite of the slow songs in their entire discography, but the five-and-a-half-minute track drags on a bit too much for me to put it above “Heat Waves”.
As someone who isn’t a massive Glass Animals fan, if you’ve got the time and you like well-produced and generally good sounding music, give Dreamland a shot. It delivers as a concept album, has a fair number of tracks I found playlist-worthy, and sticks out with its own sound and message in a pool of pretty competitive albums this year.