Glass Animals – Dreamland

Glass Animals, fresh off their high-profile collaborations and receiving a GRAMMY nomination, have created their most thrilling album yet: Dreamland.

Video director Eoin has used on-stage footage, TikTok cutaways and generative AI to track TinFoilPat’s journey – an unconventional step which pushes the band into unfamiliar and experimental territory.

‘Dreamland’

Anna Razumovskaya brings powerful figurative art to Glass Animals that transcends classical subject matter with vibrant colors and visual texture to produce pieces which are both powerful and transcendent. For instance, in “Dreamland”, the elegant lines of a dancer’s dress evoke a sense of elegant power that’s enhanced by swirling blue tones with bursts of pink and red to create pieces with both power and transcendence.

Tropical beats drive the song’s mesmeric chorus as Dave Bayley compares an all-consuming love to pressurised space shuttle capsule. Rich textures evoke a psychedelic journey through stylized vegetation which blurs reality with dreams.

the U.K. band gradually refined their sound and expanded their audience with 2016’s How to Be a Human Being album and 2020’s Dreamland record, further harmonizing club rock/art pop dialectic at their core.

‘Heat Waves’

Heat waves are atmospheric phenomena that form when an upper-atmosphere high-pressure area strengthens and remains over a region for several days or weeks, trapping warm air near Earth’s surface and creating extremely hot and humid weather, potentially leading to heat cramps and dehydration among other adverse health consequences.

Glass Animals’ 2020 album Dreamland features the single ‘Heat Waves’ that is currently dominating the US Top 40 chart, marking their first No.1 hit and breaking Mariah Carey’s 35-week reign as leader of this ranking.

Like an actual heat wave, the song’s lyrics reflect its waves with dark and depressing passages before reaching an optimistic crescendo. Bayley wrote the tune so as to create something “much deeper” lyrically than what had previously been explored on Zaba and How To Be A Human Being albums by his group.

Marissa Cruz, a multidisciplinary artist based out of Nova Scotia, uses allegorical works to explore identity, value systems and power dynamics. Utilizing remixed pop culture artifacts from mid 2010s teen pop rock to corporate consumer design as sources, her projects critique digitalized property ownership as well as its conquest by capitalist forces.

‘Your Love (Deja Vu)’

The lyrics to ‘Your Love (Deja Vu)’ paint an accurate portrait of modern romance’s temporary nature. Living ‘like you’re on camera’ alludes to social media’s pressures to present an idealised version of oneself for public consumption.

This track showcases Dave Bayley’s more confessional writing style, which has developed with each album. While “How To Be A Human Being” provided more of a character study approach, this song offers something much deeper.

This skittering dance-oriented track explores toxic relationships – a central theme on their new record. Repetition of “I know I shouldn’t return” acts as a reminder that sometimes it is better to remain alone rather than continue allowing someone into your life who will only treat you badly; thus creating an anthem about self-destruction which resonates deeply with many listeners.

‘Dreamland Tour’

The popular British band known for hit songs such as “Gooey” and “Black Mambo” brings its infectious mix of synth-pop, R&B and hip hop together with indie sensibilities for an unforgettable show at Freeman Coliseum with American rapper Denzel Curry joining them.

Dreamland, the band‘s latest album, explores themes of escape and longing for belonging, marking a departure from previous observational storytelling and autobiographical lyrics on previous releases.

The McNay Art Gallery exhibit features artworks that capture the spirit of this tour, from trompe l’oeil wallpaper and lenticular images to embroidered T-shirts and hats with trompe l’oeil designs, reflecting album themes like common humanity while simultaneously featuring local artists’ work such as Einar de la Torre who combine trompe l’oeil designs with lenticular effects to transform AT&T Lobby walls into art displays. The exhibit runs until January 14, 2024.