Dream Boat – Widow (2011) [AMDISCS] // Grade: A-
Dream Boat really is a dream. Despite the witch-house vibe of them, the dark associations, all haze and terror, the Rhode Islander(s) lope around such an ethereal soundscape, it’s always been tough to distinguish light from dark. Second full-length Widow amps up the dreaminess even more, with tracks that embody all the wavy unreality of sub-conscious thought — except this time, the sometimes-nightmare is balanced by even smaller, more subtle moments.
Of course, that balance isn’t entirely new. The subtle to overblown trade-off was a definite cornerstone of last year’s Visions, but where it felt less distinctive there — even the most minimal moments still had that hiss about it — it becomes unmissable on Widow. Tracks like the clicking, stuttering “Poppies” and washed out “S Uma” lean into the granular static of “Keepaway”, forever pitting watery atmosphere against bright, crushing dance. The electronic misadventure of it seems to breathe of its own accord, shuffling bleary eyed through different worlds; fantasy and reality enmeshed into this alternate sphere.
And it’s also very much the sound of a project developing. Rather than work within the exact same parameters — or, conversely, switch everything up to a dizzying degree — Dream Boat seem intent on pushing their concepts to the limit of mastery. Widow is better produced, better paced, better conceptualized than its already great predecessor. And, if we’re lucky, Dream Boat’s only just getting started.
