A sunshiney, psychedelic, indie bedroom pop party, Dream Estate opens the album of the same name and we’re off to the races. With DNA extracted from Tame Impala, Drums, DIIV and Swiss Portrait and spliced together to produce an energetic high-spirited banger, it’s the perfect opener.
The new – and second – album from Peli Gene (the musical moniker of songwriter Florida native Gabe Parker) is 11 tracks that continue in this vein and is a welcome slab of technicolour escapism in what can often feel like a rather grayscale world.
Producing all his work from his bedroom studio in Tampa the classic bedroom pop chimey guitars and upbeat pace continues throughout the course of the record. Along the way, we’re met with 80s essences (the supremely catchy Hesitate), excellently realised drums (Time Machine), post-punk vibes (last summer’s single success Valentine) and much more. Eventually, we get to the recent single Remi, which is one of the album’s slower jams. New wave energy meets Alvvays style modern jangle pop in this early-Bombay Bicycle Club-indebted indie pop tune.
Let It Slide features splendid live drums performed by Ethan Finchum. This is significant, or notable because the fact that this is explicitly stated suggests that all the rest of the drums on the record are programmed. This would indicate that Parker is as impressive a producer as he is a songwriter. The song ends with the surprise addition of some My-Sweet-Lord-sounding slide guitar and it’s a welcome additional dimension to this already multi-dimensional set of songs.
Temperature follows and is another track at the slower end of the spectrum. It’s pensive and reflective, continuing the introspection that has been prevalent throughout the album’s duration so far. We are then met with a triptych of singles – Tides, A Pond and Black And White – that keep the spirit of the album going wonderfully. Quirky, kinetic dream pop with the addition of elements ranging from what sounds like a theremin but almost certainly isn’t, surf rock slants and at times, almost soft grungey tones reminiscent of alt-indie darlings The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. The album is closed out by a wistful instrumental called Goodbye Sail which is a wonderfully fitting, rather jaunty closer.
This is an excellently realised work of concise and coherent quality – the album should be regarded as a figurehead of the bedroom pop genre and a beacon for all those in the same position. That is to say, in their bedroom crafting beautiful art.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
