Here’s something I’ve been meaning to share with y’all for a while–Dreamers are a two-piece from LA who combine electronica and post-hardcore thrashing into a strangely compelling hybrid that can’t really be nailed down with any single genre designation. “City Of Hope” is the leadoff single from their self-titled debut album, which came out a couple of weeks ago on the Germ Label, and it’s been getting stuck in my head at regular intervals ever since I first heard it.
Here’s something I’ve been meaning to share with y’all for a while–Dreamers are a two-piece from LA who combine electronica and post-hardcore thrashing into a strangely compelling hybrid that can’t really be nailed down with any single genre designation. “City Of Hope” is the leadoff single from their self-titled debut album, which came out a couple of weeks ago on the Germ Label, and it’s been getting stuck in my head at regular intervals ever since I first heard it. On their website, Dreamers state that they formed because “they were sick of the redundant dicklessness all around them.” It’s interesting to hear this from a band with a female singer, but considering that Megan Gold’s vocals on this track are reminiscent of nothing so much as Jane’s Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell on a particularly butch day, I guess it makes sense. “She didn’t want to sing in another dude rock band,” their bio states, and on this song, Dreamers demonstrate themselves capable of a powerful strength that has nothing to do with masculinity. The video for “City Of Hope,” directed by multi-instrumentalist Robbie Williamson, is an interesting portrayal of Dreamers as a live unit, with Williamson in the background pounding the hell out of a sequencer-augmented drum kit as Gold, looking ten feet tall and totally in command despite wearing nothing more than a grey bodysuit, stares down the camera and sings her heart out. The entire video is oversaturated and seemingly shot through a layer of water condensation on the camera’s lens, but this if anything only adds to its indelible, hallucinogenic power.
This isn’t all that Dreamers have to offer, by any means; their completely different but equally powerful video for “Appaloosa” features viscerally horrifying footage of Megan Gold going into labor in the back of a minivan, giving birth to some bizarre demon/ghoul thing, and seemingly to a cavalcade of distorted 80s pop star zombies as well… It’s really not all that clear, and the song is more of an overdriven Annie Lennox-style electronic ballad than the powerful pounding of “City Of Hope,” so I’m not quite as into it, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re still curious about Dreamers. And if you like what you hear, you can grab their self-titled album, featuring both of these songs plus six more, right HERE.
