Dreamland
| Glass Animals
Dreamland
Dreamland is the third studio album by English indie alternative rock group Glass Animals. It was released on 7 August 2020, having been pushed back from its initial release date of 10 July 2020. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
Freaky Party
an intimate record interspersed with home recordings. It retains their hallucinogenic sound but injects it with more glimmers of autobiography than they’ve ever previously shared.
-
Pitchfork
The UK psych-pop band stretches out to embrace hip-hop production and personal biography. It comes across like a guy trying to tell you his life story in a packed Coachella tent.
-
Slant Magazine
The album makes room for evocative, sensory lyrics and sonics that verge on the cinematic, but it also spends a lot of time on the mundane.
-
NME
The Oxford band have overcome a period of intense adversity to bring you a record of deeply personal tales – all set to shimmering pop tunes.
-
The Independent
Band’s deeply personal third album is drenched in sepia-toned nostalgia.
-
The New Fury
While music like this isn’t typically my speed, I found Dreamland to be an enjoyable listen. The differentiation between songs was improved by the “home movie” transitions, and there was good variety from front to back, even if the more R&B/Hip-hop sections didn’t land with me. At the very least, the title track deserves recognition, and you’ll likely enjoy the rest if it’s up your alley.
-
Stereoboard
‘Dreamland’ finishes as it starts, with an askew mirroring of the brilliant eponymous opener. As it ends, it’s clear that this is many things—an amazing road-trip soundtrack, a batch of club bangers and the ideal house party playlist for anyone who remembers the ‘90s. Wavey Davey is well and truly on fire.
-
Muse
While there are certainly a few forgettable tracks, such as ‘Melon and the Coconut’ and ‘Domestic Bliss’, Glass Animals have made a fantastic return to music with Dreamland. They have clearly grown as musicians by widening their influences with links to hip-hop, trap and grime, and drawing on more authentic and personal inspiration for their new songs.
-
Riot Magazine
Drenched in warm, honeyed vocals and tunes referencing heatwaves and tropical fruit,Glass Animals return with a timely pairing for the sweltering August weather: Dreamland.
-
mxdwn
Flush with a myriad of radio-ready hits and more retrospective jams alike, Dreamland combines the best of both worlds–making the journey that much more rewarding. In a world bogged down by quarantine-induced madness, Dreamland is a much-needed moment of respite.
-
Indie is not a Genre
The secret beauty of this album is that it needs multiple listens to understand the songs. Bayley is a disgustingly talented lyricist who is striding in confidence right now, each individual song on this album has multiple layers of his psyche embedded and ready to be peeled away. This isn’t an album for fast consumption.
-
Cryptic Rock
Overall, Dreamland is a vehicle which expresses honest emotions and the experiences from the silence after admitting lack of love. Providing additional intrigue, Dave Bailey looks into his own traumas growing up with intricate lyrics that express a sincere and introspective poetic journey. Deep, and at times dark, Glass Animals’ dreamy yet beautiful electronic sounds play akin to the mood of each song.
-
Earbuddy
Instead of a normal Glass Animals’ record with all of its quirky charm from songs like “Pork Soda” or “Gooey” that set them apart from the pack, we get a bland modern alt-pop record.
-
The Student Playlist
For every win on Glass Animals’ eclectic third album ‘Dreamland’, there’s another moment of excruciating cringe.
-
The Post
Glass Animals paints euphoric picture of life with ‘Dreamland’.
-
The Standard
A personal, endearing memoir.
-
Clash Magazine
A brave and ultimately bold move, it’s hugely effective – direct yet sumptuously nuanced, ‘Dreamland’ is a triumph.
-
No Ripcord
Despite the amount of effort that appears at the surface, from the several websites to the layered and unique production, Dreamland is a project that’s as momentarily annoying as it is infinitely forgettable.
-
DIY Magazine
Rose-tinted nostalgia for the perfect summer.
-
Narc Magazine
Dreamland is their most poignant record to date — an exploration in self-elasticity from one of the UK’s sweetest exports; don’t sleep on this one.
-
Sputnik Music
If Dreamland is any indicator of their direction from here on out, I’ll have to content myself with Glass Animals being a slightly-better version of something mediocre.
-
Afterglow
Glass Animals’ Dreamland Creates an Intimate World of Wondrous Sound.
-
Niner Times
The psychedelic pop outfit returns with an introspective yet familiar record exploring technicolor memories and a turbulent year of surprises.
-
Diandra Reviews it All
the album is a sweet, succinct, and ambient look into what makes a person who they want to be and whether becoming that reveals to you it is not what you want. No matter what, the album feels made for headphones, and the times when you don’t want to do anything but lay out and listen to good music, which I am sure this pandemic has made a lot of people desire.
-
The Daily Nebraskan
Glass Animals showcase evolving sound in stellar new LP ‘Dreamland’.
-
The World News
laid-back vibes and multi-textured, exacting arrangements.
-
Platform Magazine
The band has successfully created an album where they are able to tell their own story whilst effortlessly combining the lyrics with the sounds that fans have come to love and recognise them for. You can only respect Glass Animals for taking such a risk and letting us in on a more personal level.
-
The Indiependent
Glass Animals have created something that resonates with most people: how to address pain and fathom from it some kind of recovery. Dreamland translates the emotion into an intense and varied journey through Seaward’s personal stream of consciousness, allowing the audience to fish out and reinterpret some of the lost memories.
-
The Upcoming
Glass Animals’ music ages like wine. Dreamland was absolutely worth the long wait.
-
Magnetic Magazine
Dreamland is both ready for a pool party in Malibu and for some zonked out 4am afterparty. It is the late addition for what you need to be listening to this summer. Dreamland is fun and at times serious, but overall the sort of album that feels at home with any sort of outdoor party for those with taste.
-
The Mic Magazine
Dreamland sees the band provide a unique insight into their past, prompted by the hardship of looking to the future during a time riddled with uncertainty. As a result, we have an album perfectly suited to the present times.
-
All Music
Glass Animals' most cohesive and satisfying album to date, Dreamland is a well-deserved triumph that's as rewarding for fans to hear as it was for the band to make.
-
Redbrick Music
Although it is not a perfect record, there are some absolute gems. With their catchy hooks, shimmery production and witty lyricism, you will find yourself gravitating towards these tunes time and time again, dragging you further with each listen into Bayley’s whimsical world, providing some much needed 2020 escapism.
-
Gigwise
. Dreamland is a very well executed album, it is progressive in all the right ways, without ever losing sight of the group’s quirky signature sound. Coupled with their refreshingly radical promotional style and innovative expression, this signals a bright future for a band whose spotlight is hard-earned and well-deserved.
-
TN2 Magazine
Dreamland is a worthy addition to Glass Animals’ discography and is sure to go down well with long-time fans and newcomers alike. As 2020 continues to be a year of global disruption, Glass Animals have produced a welcome reprieve from the chaos, inviting the listener to abandon some of the trials of adult life and reconnect with their childhood.
-
The VLM
This kaleidoscopic journey of Dreamland is a resounding triumph, and a sensational digital detox, showcasing that there is far more to explore in Wavey Davey’s head than simply pineapples and peanut butter vibes.
-
Gig Goer
Dreamland is a masterpiece in creativity that cements Glass Animals as one of the most exciting bands on the alternative scene.
-
The 13th Floor
The result is an album that seems like the blurred remains of a dream. A hazy winding soundscape backed with electric drumbeats and interwoven with home video samples.
-
Palatinate Online
Overall, a concoction of chill and chaotic energy radiates from this 45 minute album, woven together by the universal acknowledgement of childhood and escapism in life. A solid five stars from me.
-
The Forty Five
Compared with Glass Animals’ previous records, it’s a sadder, more reflective prospect – fewer hulking great choruses, more meandering contemplation. Moving, surprisingly understated, and frequently quite dark, it’s intriguing to find the band getting personal.
-
Our Culture
While the album does recycle a lot of the same musical tropes, you have to applaud the band’s attempt at presenting a more coherent sonic vision than they have on previous albums, all while boasting some of their most catchy grooves – take the hypnotic ‘Your Love (Dejá Vu)’, for instance, or the breezy, laid-back ‘Hot Sugar’.
Listeners Reviews
Show All-
Dreamland is a perfect title for this album. In the beautiful Glass Animals way, with bubbly beats and melty melodies, most songs on this album are the type of tunes that are great for a car ride with the windows down. Among those songs are a few surprises of more grounded, but still invigorating. 4/5
By Jasmine J
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments