“There is something unfathomable in dreams: a navel unites them to the unknown.” This is what Sigmund Freud stated in his “The Interpretation of Dreams”. The father of psychoanalysis therefore underlined the magical aspect of dreams, which connects us to something we don't know about ourselves and the universe. Another psychoanalyst, Wilfred Bixion, argued that we not only dream while we sleep, but we also do so while awake: it is the activity that allows us to “think thoughts”. How many books about dreams have the protagonists of dream-pop read, a very current genre in a cynical and materialist reality like ours? This trend, together with the related shoegaze, has for decades represented the possibility of daydreaming and wandering with the mind constructing “dreamlike” images. Layers of guitars, whispered voices, slow tempos and melancholy melodies made the fortune of the original bands (Ride and Slowdive first and foremost, who have recently returned to the stage with more success than before) and of a host of performers who after the 90s they personalized the verb dream. From Beach House to Daughter, you only have to choose to fall in love with this music.
This second generation includes Air Formation, a British band that has been interpreting dream-pop in its textbook version since 1998, focusing on the primary function of making us “think thoughts”. Matt Bartram, Ben Pierce, Richard Parks, James Harrison and Ian Sheridan have followed their own itinerary without caring about commercial or critical success and offering listeners the chance to close their eyes and dream. Because their music creates scenarios but unlike ambient music it evokes emotions even if in a discreet and “equanimous” way. Proof of this are the five albums produced so far, of which “Nothing To Wish For (Nothing To Lose)” from 2010 is probably the best.
Air Formation return after six years of absence (the last album was “Near Miss” in 2018) with the new “Air Formation”, which already from the title manifests a declaration of identity: this is our music, you like it or not . Out on the Club AC30 label, the album features a healthy band focused on offering the best of themselves, aware that their music serves to make our lives full of emotions and kindness. And it is precisely the kindness that flows from the first track in the setlist, “Pressure Drop” which with its distant guitar arpeggio invites us to abandon ourselves while the drums create that bit of tension that prepares the arrival of Matt's singing, feeble and buried by sounds. Because the voice, in dream-pop, is a call, a siren song, a whisper that attracts attention to trigger the “trap” of the captured emotion.
The single “Finding Gravity” indulges in a rock pace that hints at the idea of having a reference song. But it is only a hint, because the song takes the responsibility of guiding us into the imaginative melancholy typical of their songs. For Air Formation, in fact, the important thing is not to create memorable songs (which Slowdive does well) but to create an atmosphere, a labyrinth in which to get lost. Their songs are functional to this, such as “Crashing Out”. Introduced by a light guitar, it is then enriched by keyboards and a sinuous bass line that caresses the listener.
Everything then returns in the final “The Final Wave”, in which the hints of a break (from the dream?) are immediately interrupted by a riff of guitar that calls to contemplation: of ourselves, of the world, of the dream. An energetic close to an album that is, as mentioned, take it or leave it. The hint of monotony is just a vague sensation that takes nothing away from the band's poetry. Do you still want to dream and, above all, do you deserve it? Then the music of Air Formation is here for you.
05/14/2024
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM