ALBUM REVIEW: Dream Nails - You Wish

Dream Nails has recently shrunk to become a three piece, not shrunk, that’s the wrong word. Exploded into a three piece? Picking up the scatters of electric vocals and lashing drums, they’ve built a softer, smoother melody, into which old pieces of the riot grrrl debris has embedded itself. This has manifested itself in their newest album ‘You Wish’, a more pop led exploration of the political rage that defines their band. 

Credit: Marieke Macklon

Opening this album is ‘The Only Way Out Is Through’, a playful layering of woozy electric guitar and breezy vocals, a stark departure from their gritty, spoken word 2023 album. Similarly, ‘This Is Water’ releases a medley of spiky chorus’ and fresher, sweeter musings on the mundane, creating a Sir Chloe inspired electric grunge. 

They, of course, have maintained their activism during this shift. ‘Zeros’ is a siren-like melody warning of the relentless march into technological collapse, and ‘Organoid’s’ frenzied screams spit at the rising dominance of AI. They are unpolished, guttural reactions to the manic pace at which the world is moving, pulling inspiration from punk powerhouses like Lambrini Girls and Mannequin Pussy. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNbg9X3he-g

At times, they step away from this familiar territory with bedroom-indie inspired ‘Pack My Wax. Layers of dreamlike guitar and airy cymbals are buried under syrupy vocal lines in an almost Slowdive inspired dream-pop experimentation. 

The album rounds off with ‘A Sign’, a semi colon of a song that dips its toes into everything from pop to folk. It is clear that they are still rearranging their sound after its explosion revealed unexplored pockets of witch-y folk and walls of sound, but what has resulted is a beautifully imperfect patchwork. It is eccentric, and powerful, and deeply enjoyable; it is the sound of a band redefining itself, and doing it brilliantly.