Dream State
Still Dreaming – Self Released
With some major line-up changes it has felt as if Welsh rock band Dream State have had a
stuttering, halting career, but the stability of their current incarnation finds this quartet ready to
take on the world. With an expansive sound that incorporates everything from post-hardcore to
metal and math-rock, Dream State deliver a shapeshifting EP in Still Dreaming that displays all
the band’s various charms. Vocalist Jessie Powell is now firmly entrenched in the group and
becomes the focal point around which the band revolve, She ululates with the music on ‘Calling
Out’ before delivering a throat-shredding performance on ‘Anxious State Of Mind’. The band
have a singer who can match their dextrous sound, and it has definitely opened up new musical
avenues. This is an EP that finds the band in confident mode and rocking their signature style,
unafraid to take a few risks, and is so often the case, it finds fortune favouring the brave. Still
Dreaming has a strong focus on melody underpinning everything it does which ensures all of
these songs swing with an inherent groove, and no more so than on closing track ‘Day Seeker’,
a song that finds them wide awake and primed for action.
Review by Peter Dennis