After many years of rumors, hints, and social media teases, Santa Cruz-based dream pop band Bethany Curve have officially woken from their fifteen-year slumber with a new track and upcoming album release announcement. We’re honored to premiere “Dreamland,” the second single from their upcoming LP Murder!, due out on Kitchen Whore records early next year.
Bethany Curve (who also made our top 100 dream pop roundup earlier this year), were at the peak of their powers in the early 2000s, releasing the reverb-drenched Flaxen in 2003 before vanishing without much of a trace. Since then, the band has taken time to recalibrate and craft their sixth release, kicking off with lead-track “Frontier,” which was released via Soundcloud in mid-November. Murder! is slated to be released on CD and digital formats on January 18th, 2019, with the LP release to follow in February. Each track on the record is a reflective meditation on dreaming, pieced together through the band’s surrealist soundscape and Richard Millang’s passionate lyrics, which have already been printed in full on the band’s website.
“I dream vividly and often. Each song on this record was inspired by a dream.”
– Richard Millang
“Dreamland” starts with a stunningly strummed chord, quickly settling into a shuffling ethereal groove. Millang’s honey-dripped vocals haven’t aged in the slightest, as soaring and passionate as ever. The track shifts into a start-stop mantra, layering in Lisa Dewey’s backup vocals, and capturing that intoxicating feeling of waking suddenly before drifting off again.
You can listen to “Dreamland” above, and check below for the full release details for Murder!
Bethany Curve- Murder!
1. I’m Alive
2. Dreamland
3. Frontier
4. Wake Up!
5. Lust
6. Miss Displacement
7. Glory
8. She Died
9. Cruiser
10. The Solution
Purchasing details to follow via Bethany Curve website and Facebook page.
