Dreamtigers – Ellapsis Album Review from New Noise Magazine

The latest album from Dreamtigers, released by Skeletal Lightning, opens with Six Rivers which was wisely first to be released as a single last November. It has me hooked from the opening swells, the cinematic gloom and the intricate percussion brings to mind Godspeed, You Black Emperor a bit.

Some of the same alternate history nostalgia I get from a few other groups, among them the “sinister surf” rock tones of The Allah-Las. It feels a bit more grungy, but still somehow has a clean, crisp sound as well. I am a nut for echoey, textured, wall of sound and can get down with the shoegazey, raw, but controlled feel of the album. The vocals also can contort with emotion, at times they bring to mind the dark, dissonant vocal harmonies of classic Alice in Chains. Other times they call to mind the frenetic energy of The Wagner Logic, psychedelic indie rock out of Kasilof, Alaska.

I’d listened to a couple tracks available from the new album at Bandcamp, then found some of their earlier work on YouTube but listening to the album from start to finish over just under 1.5 beers (right near the perfect amount of not drunk/not sober for most creative tasks for which muscle memory is already built in). Just a couple weeks ago, the official music video for “I See the Future” also dropped at YouTube which is worth a view.

Of course, the album art and name would have called out to me enough to have me at least try to find some sample of the group online. And sure enough, for me at least the name Dreamtigers jumped out, after all I’m a fan of magical realism and Borges and Kafka are two of my favorites. The collection of poems and essays by Jorge Luis Borges. But with all that in its favor, the percussion, the luscious sound engineering, the percussion and vocals, and of course the stories carried along in the lyrics as well.

The album title “Ellapsis” is a made-up word related to the idea of “Time Sickness.” The idea is how time, grief, loss, sadness and pain can compound over time. Between one best friend and three mentors dying in the past 3 years and finding myself at the far edge of my 30s, impending 40somethingness upon me, as well as having come to terms with mortality and frailty after an injury left me bedridden and in need of surgery, these are some concepts I’ve had a lot of time to ponder on in the last calendar year.

The latest album from Dreamtigers, released by Skeletal Lightning, opens with Six Rivers which was wisely first to be released as a single last November. It has me hooked from the opening swells, the cinematic gloom and the intricate percussion brings to mind Godspeed, You Black Emperor a bit.

Some of the same alternate history nostalgia I get from a few other groups, among them the “sinister surf” rock tones of The Allah-Las. It feels a bit more grungy, but still somehow has a clean, crisp sound as well. I am a nut for echoey, textured, wall of sound and can get down with the shoegazey, raw, but controlled feel of the album. The vocals also can contort with emotion, at times they bring to mind the dark, dissonant vocal harmonies of classic Alice in Chains. Other times they call to mind the frenetic energy of The Wagner Logic, psychedelic indie rock out of Kasilof, Alaska.

I’d listened to a couple tracks available from the new album at Bandcamp, then found some of their earlier work on YouTube but listening to the album from start to finish over just under 1.5 beers (right near the perfect amount of not drunk/not sober for most creative tasks for which muscle memory is already built in). Just a couple weeks ago, the official music video for “I See the Future” also dropped at YouTube which is worth a view.

Of course, the album art and name would have called out to me enough to have me at least try to find some sample of the group online. And sure enough, for me at least the name Dreamtigers jumped out, after all I’m a fan of magical realism and Borges and Kafka are two of my favorites. The collection of poems and essays by Jorge Luis Borges. But with all that in its favor, the percussion, the luscious sound engineering, the percussion and vocals, and of course the stories carried along in the lyrics as well.

The album title “Ellapsis” is a made-up word related to the idea of “Time Sickness.” The idea is how time, grief, loss, sadness and pain can compound over time. Between one best friend and three mentors dying in the past 3 years and finding myself at the far edge of my 30s, impending 40somethingness upon me, as well as having come to terms with mortality and frailty after an injury left me bedridden and in need of surgery, these are some concepts I’ve had a lot of time to ponder on in the last calendar year.

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT NEW NOISE MAGAZINE

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