Alice Dreamt – The Wretched World
Alice Dreamt are an alternative dream pop band from Detroit, Michigan. Channeling bands such as the Olivia Tremor Control and Cocteau Twins, Alice Dreamt do well in standing out from the crowd via their insertion of noise rock, much the same as the Magnetic Fields.
Typical of good dream pop, the fuzzy lo-fi aesthetic adds fascinating colour to tracks such as Alice and It Goes Away. Furthermore, the latter track boasts one of the most impressive burst of noise rock ever presented in a delightfully melodic pop song. Black Tuesday demonstrates a mild sense of range, gearing more towards gothic prog rock, yet still sticking close to its pop conventions. The album is sadly marred by this framework, as most songs trade emotional honesty and possible interesting instrumental segments in favour of accessibility. And Forever You Will Suffer is one of those instrumental segments that experiments outside the norm and succeeds marvellously for it. Alternatively, tracks such as Better Death and – could have had a far bigger impact had they not simultaneously tried to be catchy and upbeat at the same time as being rockin’.
Past the strong opening few tracks, the album loses a lot of steam. While the songs are greatly varied and surprisingly diverse, they still sound alike the majority of alternative noise-pop that predated it. The songwriting within these tracks are undeniably strong, though like a sugary dessert that gets old after a few bites, they are far too poppy to carry an entire album. Out of the bland pop songs on the second half, a track such as Wane Poetic sticks out mostly for its incorporation of noise elements. Additionally, the closer exceeds mostly for its simple, minimalistic acoustic aesthetics. If only the album wasn’t so concerned with sounding accessible and focused more on its weird and experimental components. Nonetheless, there are moments where the album exceeds, and when it does it’s extremely memorable. It’s worth skimming through to find those moments alone.
Above Average
Alice Dreamt – The Wretched World
