If you’re an Alex Calder freak Strange Dreams is going to be old news. After all the former Mac DeMarco collaborator released the album digitally last spring via Bandcamp. But it’s no surprise that Captured Tracks has now stepped in to pluck it from the endless void that is the Internet and give the record a proper release.
Following in the intoxicated footsteps of 2013’s Time EP Strange Dreams is all about perfecting what came before it. This means the Montreal-via-Edmonton songwriter is still very much in love with hazy codeine-slowed guitar pop that manages to be oh-so-pillowy soft while still charmingly rough around the edges.
For his full-length debut though Calder has most definitely moved upwards and onwards filtering his tracks through more ambitious sonic textures whether they be chorus effect-treated guitars backwards-masked ambience click-clacking percussion or reverb-drowned organs. Calder’s falsetto frequently reaching for those high notes was also a wise move as was getting Caitlin Loney to join him on hook-crammed “Life Purpose” or barely crawling out of bed to stumble out “Lola.”
Time was good but Strange Dreams is better in basically every way shape and form making it a great addition to this here reality.
