Dreamland＜限定盤/Glow In The Dark Vinyl＞

With each album, Glass Animals bright, ear-catching music has gotten more revealing and approachable. On 2014s ZABA, their bubbly mix of indie, electronic, R&B, and hip-hop influences sounded like pop from another planet, with abstract lyrics to match (who can forget Gooeys peanut butter vibes?). They got a little more down-to-earth with the character studies of 2016s Mercury Prize-nominated How to Be a Human Being; now, on Dreamland, singer/songwriter Dave Bayley lets his listeners get even closer by studying his own character. Its a change that was years in the making: Bayley began writing more autobiographical songs with How to Be a Human Beings closing track, Agnes, a tribute to a dear friend whose suicide affected him deeply. When Glass Animals drummer Joe Seaward was seriously injured in a 2018 cycling accident, the band paused as he spent months learning how to talk, walk, and play music again. During this time, Bayley sharpened his songwriting and production skills by collaborating with Flume and 6LACK, and his growing experience -- as well as the emotions stirred by Seawards healing process -- convinced him to dig into his own life and feelings for inspiration. His transformation into a more specific songwriter only makes Dreamlands music richer, grounding his bands genre-defying approach with his own chameleonic past. Before moving to England, Bayley spent his early adolescence in Texas and immersed himself in 90s American pop culture that pops up in unexpected ways on these songs. On Space Ghost Coast to Coast, he juxtaposes cartoon imagery, the sound of 2000s hip-hop, and memories of a childhood friend who later attempted a school shooting. Once again, Bayleys fluency at melding R&B and hip-hop elements into Glass Animals music makes it clear how deep his love for those genres is. The martial beat of Your Love (Deja Vu) was inspired by Timbaland and the Neptunes as well as Beyonces Coachella performance, while Tokyo Drifting, a low-slung collaboration with Denzel Curry, introduces Bayleys own Sasha Fierce, a character called Wavey Davey. Elsewhere, Dreamland is just as musically layered and engaging as ever, with plenty of wiggly synths and bouncy beats on tracks such as Tangerine and Melon and the Coconut and slinky sensuality on Hot Sugar. Glass Animals most cohesive and satisfying album to date, Dreamland is a well-deserved triumph thats as rewarding for fans to hear as it was for the band to make. ~ Heather Phares