Mr. Dream’s sparse-yet-aggressive punk ain’t necessarily the most inviting thing in the world, especially right off the bat. On new single “What A Mess,” Adam Moerder’s guitar warbles, as he crafts riffs that you’re not totally sure are riffs, while his vocal melody seems to fight against them. But just about midway through the whole thing seems to snap together: Moerder drops the breathy, open tone for some throat-gnashing wailing as drummer Nick Sylvester kicks things up a notch, all of it giving those earlier licks the kind of deranged backing they deserve.
“What A Mess” and Mr. Dream’s other new track “The Room,” will both appear on their upcoming EP, Fatherland, which Sylvester told Stereogum “is about an amusement park for fathers.” I dunno whether that means we’ll be getting a mini-concept record (which would be dope), but if Mr. Dream’s looking to capture the kind of soul crushing drudgery that an amusement park for fathers seems to imply, they’ve nailed it on “The Room.” The repetition of lines “Could you kiss your own face?” and, more to the point, “Cause you can’t leave the room,” help hammer home the track’s overwhelming solipsistic claustrophobia; but it’s Matt Morello’s bass, which wanders, yet always seems to end up right where it started, and Moerder’s near-psychotic vocal performance that truly create that atmosphere. When “The Room” finally opens up towards the end it does so with chilling satisfaction — in a headbang-worthy final minute, the entire track seems to coalesce, but it never forfeits any madness
