Calico Dreams
by Sugar Wounds

From Mercury 04/08/2021 19:38 | #268346

(Despite its short 23 minute run time, this little beast of an album manages to ferociously manifest loads of passion and talent and deftly combine Screamo, Blackgaze, shoegaze, grindcore and electronic into one surprisingly cohesive and impressive album.)

Something got into me this year, specifically after Knoll blew my mind, and now I have a weird itch and enthusiasm for Screamo and Grind and almost any intense genre with lots of screeching and screaming vocals. So of course when I saw this album about the internet world and I saw its description and its cool title I was excited to check it out. I was not disappointed. While I don't know that all these disparate elements that come at me when i listen at breakneck speed all work perfectly together, more often than not the transitions and the combinations work really well. One second you may hear a anguished and passionate Screamo blast and the next it will be grindcore with weird electronic production overlaced, then the next second you'll hear some of the most ridiculous and cartoonish (yet really cool here) double bass impossible speed explosion and black metal screeching, etc etc. Its a good and wild time for all!

After a few listens I can't say this is one of my favorite albums of the year and some of the vocals aren't to my liking and the screams just don't hit like they do on Dreamwell's or even Youth Novel's recent albums, and the production sound is a bit too muddy generally for my taste, etc. There are relatively small gripes I have. But BY FAR these are outweighed by a sense of awe that comes over me at times on this album. I have much respect for this band and their daring and brashness taking so much stuff and crushing it together with such verve and badassness. I really enjoyed this album, not much else to say.