After The Dream You Are Awake

Shoegaze/synth pop
Over time, this unbelievably overlooked Athens, Georgia band has moved from beautiful, long-form post-rock (see the excellent Longplay 2) to a more psychedelic, pop-oriented sound. Clay Jordan, the only constant member, hasn’t shrunk his ambitions, though; the band’s fourth album sounds huge, with pop chops to match. Jordan trades vocal duties with fellow member Laura Solomon. Catchy and grand but also subtle—awesome. Favorites: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8. No FCCs.

1. *(4:39)—Slow and massive. Huge drums, lots of empty sound space, then spacy synths shooting everywhere.
2. (3:13)—Medium-fast. Bouncy and major-key but smooth. About a stalker.
3. *(3:01)—Medium-fast. Banging dance beat and intense, fluttery synths. Male-female duet, with both vocalists creating ominous vibes. Spine chilling and crazy catchy.
4. (4:15)—Medium-slow. Billy Idol cover! Upbeat and kind of syrupy—50s pop songwriting filtered through new wave.
5. *(3:30)—Medium-fast. Cool, rocking, and fluttery but thematically dark—about women dealing with harassment from men on a daily basis. Gets noisier and more rock-oriented over time.
6. *(5:08)—Really slow. Starts sparely and builds to glacial, spacy magnificence. Nice guitar hook.
7. (3:33)—Instrumental. Woozy keyboards and guitars, sounds of children playing.
8. *(4:37)—Mid-tempo, relaxed and very lush but danceable. The guitar sound gets closer to post-rock than anything else on this album.
9. (4:47)—Slow. Similar vibe to the previous track—same bridging of softness and dance-ability. Lovely, simple theme: “I wanna be you / you wanna be me, too.”