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Look online for details about Daydream Creatures and you may come away with the impression that the female-fronted group plays high-energy rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. With performance photos featuring three of its members \u2013 Loren Carty, Jessica Korn and Brooke Randle \u2013 out front in matching mini-dresses and clutching electric instruments, it\u2019s easy to make such an assumption. But the truth about this Asheville-based group is far more fascinating and nuanced.<\/p>\n
The title of the group\u2019s quirkily-named debut album \u2013 Qalupalik<\/i> \u2013 provides few clues, and the admittedly entrancing cover art (courtesy Asheville\u2019s own Joshua Marc Levy) doesn\u2019t really prepare the listener for the music contained on the enclosed disc. The group\u2019s anthem-of-sorts, \u201cDaydream Creatures\u201d opens the album with wah-wah guitars and bubbling sounds that suggest a modern-day answer to the Beatles\u2019 \u201cOctopus\u2019s Garden.\u201d But when the harmony lead vocals come in, it\u2019s clear that Daydream Creatures plan to take listeners on a very different musical trip.<\/p>\n
The title track\u2019s instrumentation features Carty\u2019s trilling flutes adding filigree to expertly-stacked vocals that sometimes take on a deliberately yelpy quality. As the soft-rock arrangement proceeds, a brief (male) spoken-word part ties a metaphorical bow on this fairytale-styled tune.<\/p>\n
But in some ways, the vaguely nautical themed \u201cDaydream Creatures\u201d is a red herring: \u201cMeta Guy\u201d showcases the group\u2019s ensemble vocal style, one that owes a debt to classic vocal teams like WWII-era sensations the Andrews Sisters and \u2013 somewhat more recently \u2013 the Roches. There\u2019s a western swing sensibility to the vocal arrangements, and playful wordsmithing shows itself in both the lyrics and the tune\u2019s punning title. Instrumental backing that\u2019s in turns rocking and countrified further confounds anyone trying to pigeonhole exactly what it is that this band is doing, but it\u2019s a happy confusion.<\/p>\n
The torchy \u201cGuitars & Memories\u201d has elements of country and western too, but the trombone\/sax\/trumpet section (and Hammond organ solo) give the whole song a Memphian Stax\/Volt feel. The tune\u2019s chord progression vaguely recalls the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cWild Horses,\u201d but the soulful vocals are miles away from Mick Jagger\u2019s style.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll Night Long\u201d suggests a bossa nova influence filtered through some old Rickie Lee Jones records, with a Cuban jazz feel applied to a tantalizingly brief piano solo. The understated yet emotionally charged ballad \u201cGood Girl\u201d is the most overtly country-leaning tracks on the disc; a series of inventive tempo shifts add interest to an already fine number.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocomotion\u201d (not<\/i> the Little Eva classic memorably covered by Grand Funk Railroad) is a smoldering rock tune that provides yet another opportunity to highlight Daydream Creatures\u2019 impressive vocal skills. But the band (working with producer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Harvey) never overdoes it; when the harmonies show up, they belong; they add to the texture but never overwhelm the song.<\/p>\n
The Fender Rhodes that introduces \u201cYour Lips\u201d provides just the right late-night, closing-up-the-tavern ambiance for the Patsy Cline-styled romantic number. \u201cOne More Night\u201d is a dark mid-tempo number that makes intelligent use of the sonic contrast between solo and harmony vocals. Another exemplar of understated clever wordplay, \u201cYou Let Me Let You\u201d is the most deeply nuanced track on Qalupalik<\/i>; running nearly nine minutes, the song allows Carty and Korn to explore the textural range of their voices \u2013 nasty one moment, soothing the next. Brooke Randle\u2019s straightforward and simple yet soaring lead guitar takes its turn in the spotlight as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cQueen of Hearts\u201d continues the album\u2019s string of contemplative melodies; Korn reaches effortlessly into the lower end of her vocal range. Toward the song\u2019s end, the band rocks out Neil Young style, but holds back from the edge of mayhem. The honky-tonk feel of \u201cBottle of Wine\u201d brings listeners back to the vintage western swing of Qalupalik<\/i>\u2019s earlier tunes. Near the tune\u2019s end, the band \u2013 and the vocal harmonies \u2013 seem to be falling apart; it\u2019s a delightful left-turn that makes perfect sense within the context of the song.<\/p>\n
Qalupalik<\/i> ends as it began, with a brief reprise of the group\u2019s theme. The announcer mellifluously gives thanks to the listeners, giving way for the vocal ensemble to trill its way toward the song\u2019s (and the album\u2019s) sonic maelstrom, psychedelic-tinged conclusion. But what to call that which we\u2019ve just experienced? In the end it\u2019s best to forget about summing up Daydream Creatures\u2019 music into a few words. The music and the harmonies will tell us everything we need to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Look online for details about Daydream Creatures and you may come away with the impression that the female-fronted group plays high-energy rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. With performance photos featuring three of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,49,51,65],"tags":[237,3635],"class_list":["post-15610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-asheville","tag-daydream-creatures","cat-39-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15612,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15610\/revisions\/15612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}