Dream Sick

Dream Sick was formed in November of 2010 on the brink of winter. During this time a majority of the material for the first album was written. Jess Matsen (Vocals, Guitar) was working graveyard shifts at the haunted Hotel Congress as a deskman, and hardly saw the sun. Listening to Dream Sick you can hear these dark undertones in almost every song, there is longing for sunlight, for better days.
On the opening track singer Jess Matsen begins with the line “A positive mind can be hard to find / Deep inside everything you can’t define” and the album ends on the line “Oh, the change is so slow / But then it’s there and gone / before you even know” These two lines, at the two peaks of the album, sum up the two major themes in the album. To be lost in apathetic darkness, and having to struggle to find your way out.
Dream Sick leads you by your hand into this struggling mind space throughout the album, down into the depths of darkness. The beginning of the album contains 3 of the more catchy songs, the reverb drenched anthem Shine on Shine, the longing introspective Caravel, and the upbeat, nostalgic love song Know Your Heart. The album then takes a turn to paranoia with the next string of songs. Control the Weather, Cyclical Games, and Hold It’s Place are all noisy, crunchy, paranoia inflected songs. Waste Time and Lost Margaritas continue this trend while referencing the stripped down beginnings of the band.
The album then closes with the strongest trio of songs. Standing All Alone breaks the darkness, with bright guitars and punchy drum and bass lines. Long John, another song that sounds like winter, with a touch of pedal steel guitar, is one of the prettiest on the album. Who You Are finishes the album off with arguably the best song. Singers Jess and John trade off parts as the song builds, shifts and contorts to an epic ending. The last words of the album are sang, guitars drums and bass rise and fall like a raging storm and then the song slowly comes to a halt and ends in white noise. There is a definite sense of closure here, as all the themes of the album are tied into one swirly epic finale.
Recording this album was not easy for the band, having to scrap and redo multiple versions of songs; all of it being done by them while each of them struggled with their own lives outside of music. All of this is showcased here, the struggle of losing a job, a lost relationship, or just feeling lost in life. The album twists and pulls as you pass through it, but on the other side, you feel slightly better, having had that emotional release.