CANT - Dreams Come True

With ‘Dreams Come True’ Grizzly Bear’s resident multi-instrumentalist and producer Chris Taylor is making his first foray into the lonely world of soloism, and, it has to be said, it’s more of a nightmare than a dream. Those expecting a pleasant pit stop before the next Grizzly album comes out, turn back now.

Opener ‘Too Late, Too Far’ gives us false hope, with brooding, eastern infused electronics creating a melodic ‘experimental’ pop song. ‘Is there anybody else?’ Taylor croons over atmospheric harmonies and simple drums; one of the few consistencies of this album is the strength of his vocals. Unfortunately it only goes down hill from there, with ‘Believe’ following - a track so pretentiously minimal it almost collapses in on itself. ‘The Edge’ isn’t much better, warbling synths and an acidic funk bass line set it up as the answer to a what if question involving Prince, some budget keyboards and misguided balladry.

‘(brokencollar)’ serves as a mid-album interlude, piano keys are randomly plonked about on leading to an altogether unharmonious and rather bewildering interruption. It’s hard to picture an album more self-aware and ‘arty’ than ‘Dreams Come True’. The latter half features ‘She Found A Way Out’, one of the more acceptable tracks on this record. Opening with a tender guitar serenade before ballooning into a space rock crescendo, the refrain of ‘she’s finally found a way out’ is repeated into oblivion.

Perhaps I’ve been a bit harsh; maybe I should cut Chris Taylor some slack. There are a couple of good songs here, which is more than can be said for a lot of albums; but its sheer pretentious-arty-fartiness is worth a million stinkers. And that is something hard to forgive. This album does no more than leave us inquisitive about the next Grizzly Bear full-length. Has their major creative force run out of steam? Or this merely a musical misstep? Despite being a display of shoddy song writing, ‘Dreams Come True’ does hold one important message: for all those egoistic band members planning on making a solo album, unless you’re a genius it’s pretty much a no go area.