Smokescreens - "A Strange Dream"
If you haven’t listened to Episode 155 of Look At My Records! yet, here’s a bit of a spoiler: A Strange Dream by Los Angeles’ Smokescreens was my favorite record of 2020. Here’s why:
As I settle into my thirties, I’ve become keenly aware of my musical preferences. I enjoy a range of mostly guitar-centric music that spans across multiple sub-categories in the indie rock universe, but there’s a particular sound that attracts me more than any other. Basically, I’m immediately lovestruck by the warmth that emanates from a hollow-bodied guitar as it’s jangly, open chord tones fill the air. Combine it with some slightly off-kilter harmonies and you’ve basically written a certified hit in my book. These elements play a key role in the sound of so many of my favorite bands from The Beatles to Triptides. It’s part of the sound that dominated college radio in the 1980s and fermented in places on the other side of the world like Dunedin and Christchurch. And on Smokescreens’s brilliant 2020 album, A Strange Dream, these sonic building blocks are wedded together for a record that bottles up the vibes and sounds of everything that I love about music.
The progression that Smokescreens made from their 2018 album Used To Yesterday to A Strange Dream reminds me of The Feelies’ sonic evolution from their debut, Crazy Rhythms, to their sophomore effort, The Good Earth. While the songs on Crazy Rhythms had a taut and neurotic guitar sound, the band experimented with more pastoral tones on The Good Earth, shifting to an even cleaner twin-guitar sound that relied heavily on acoustic guitars. I wouldn’t characterize Used To Yesterday as jittery or neurotic, but the sound of that record was definitely more in line with the kind of ragged, lo-fi pop heard on The Clean’s early singles, while A Strange Dream is brighter, bigger, and well rounded. The guitars have more room to breathe, frontman Chris Rosi’s voice is velvety and crystalline, and the jangly guitar interplay is gorgeous and full.
The album is bouncy from the very start with perhaps its strongest track, the very catchy “Fork In The Road” - a ringing meditation on plotting an alternative course when presented with more ordinary options. The Los Angeles trio worked with David Kilgour on A Strange Dream, so the bubbling kiwi influence is no surprise. Kilgour definitely leaves his mark on the record with songs like “Working Title” and “Streets of Despair,” both of which display the breezy and clear-toned hallmarks of his early solo efforts. New Zeland works its way in again towards the end of the record, as the band included a rousing cover of “Pick The Cats Eyes Out” a classic originally performed by Dunedin forefathers the Scrotum Poles. And although the lyrics in the album’s earlier tracks show hints of frustration with the type of growing pains that come from the challenges of life, the record ends with a sweet, Velvets-esque ballad called “I Love Only You” that brings it all back home. Here, frontman Chris Rosi conveys a sense of calm through autumnal acoustic guitars and lyrics that assure that it’ll all be alright.
Listen to Episode 155 of Look At My Records! to hear about my ten favorite records of 2020! Zach Romano also shared his ten favorites, so that’s a grand total of twenty records to check out!
You can purchase A Strange Dream on limited edition vinyl via Bandcamp. You can also stream it on Spotify. Keep up with the band by following them on Instagram and liking them on Facebook.
