(Andy Synn has a few thoughts about the new Dreamwell, out on Friday, to share today)
Change is one of the few, reliable constants in life.
All of us change – sometimes drastically, sometimes subtly – whether we want to or not, and the same goes for bands… especially when they undergo any sort of line-up shift.
Case in point, after releasing two extremely well-received albums – 2021’s Modern Grotesque and 2023’s In My Saddest Dreams… (which landed on my “Critical Top Ten” for that year) – Providence-based “Post-Screamo-core” crew Dreamwell parted ways with long-time guitarist Aki McCullough (A Constant Knowledge of Death), transforming them from a quintet to a quartet for the first time since their formation.
Understandably then, I was intrigued as to how this might effect the group’s sound… after all, McCullough‘s absence inevitably leaves a gap, and just as nature always seeks to fill a vacuum so too will the rest of the group’s members have instinctively moved to establish a new equilibrium to fill this gap.
And now, with the imminent release of their third album (out this Friday), we finally get to hear just how much has changed for the band.
