Awake & Dreaming – “Inevitable” Review
There’s immense pressure on everyone to, first, find out one’s true essence and, then, to bury it so deep that nobody will ever be able to find it. How else is anyone expected to be successful in any field? How would the naked truth help anyone sleep tight at night?
People lie out of necessity and, particularly, because they feel that this is what is expected of them. It’s not just in the things that politicians promise, or the sweet words whispered by a narcissistic lover. It’s in our pop songs as well, in the things that turn into mass entertainment.
Awake & Dreaming’s lyrics are designed with the idea that it’s better to hurt and admit it than to extinguish any feelings and retain a pristine reputation. The band’s music on “Inevitable” is created with the hope that listeners would rather patiently wait for songs to unfold rather than demand a quick thrill.
This is not to say that Awake & Dreaming are running away from your classic pop ideas: strong hooks, memorable lyrics, easy-to-grasp structures. Just listen to the opening track “I U Me” with its revamped trip-hop-like beat and the resonant, emotion-filled singing that intensifies just in time for the song’s crescendo.
Next, on “Rewire,” the band builds from the ground up, using distorted guitars and bluesy licks as the foundation for this song about obsessions so large that they turn into a boredom, a veritable anthem of contemporary overstimulation.
Pay special attention to the singing. These aren’t your typical, confidence-posturing performances that you’ll hear across most contemporary rock records. The vocals switch naturally between bravado and vulnerability, helping to turn these tunes into the kind of storytelling that feels believable and honest.
If Awake & Dreaming is going for a confessional, punchy songwriting style, it is not repetitive or predictable. “Antidote,” perhaps the album’s strongest track, is a callback to 90s pop-rock. “Lights Down Low” is a soulful track dominated by a shimmering, strummed acoustic guitar. And on “Faceless,” the band makes room for tense electronica textures and vocal melodies that evoke the dramatic rock sounds of 2000s Northern European groups.
Where does this all leave us? Emotionally open and ready to accept our vulnerability, perhaps? This is certainly what Awake & Dreaming try to bring to “Inevitable,” an album that echoes the far-reaching scope of 90s alternative bands with a set of songs built around conflicting emotions and the bravery to express them to the world.
