Dreamland – Glass Animals

Written By: Ryan Gray

Glass Animals is a band that started back in 2010. Their first single that was released was “Cocco Heaves” in 2012 they ended releasing a few songs afterward and their first album Zaba was released in 2014 then their following album would be How To Be A Human Being. The band’s newest album, Dreamland, has been the band’s most popular album to date. The album does have multiple themes from being nostalgic of the past to being heartbroken from a relationship that didn’t work out. As of mid-October 2021, the band has over 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

“Space Ghost Coast To Coast” the song is based on the tv show of the same name. The song does have a lot of cultural references, the references would include James Bond and GTA and some references do stem from the 90’s such as Dunkaroos to the TV Show Real Monsters. Even with the references, it’s a callback to the people who were growing up in the ’90s and would provide references for people who didn’t grow up in the ’90s. The song has a beat to it that keeps the listener wanting to keep listening to the rest of the song and then could make one want to look up all the references that they might have missed on the first or second listen.

“Tokyo Drifting” would be another that stands out from the rest because it’s the closest song on the album that combines EDM and rap. The title of the song could be a reference to the Fast and Furious movie, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, the song in my opinion would fit well in the movie and could be a part of the soundtrack. Denzel Curry is featured in the song as well. The song becomes a different song, when Denzel Curry starts his verse, the song leans more into the rap elements but yet it still contains the elements of EDM. This ability to mix multiple genres that typically don’t go together is a difficult task to do, and then having the song be successful is even harder to do.

In my opinion, “Heat Waves” is the best song on the album and is arguably the most popular song on the album right now; the song has over 680 million streams on Spotify. The runtime of the song is 3 minutes and 38 seconds. The song seems like the perfect song to play when you’re driving with the windows down in the middle of the summer. The lyrics do have an underlying meaning, during the song the artists mention how they went through a breakup and they were trying to figure how to cope with the emotions during that time. Between the beats and lyrics it showcases the right elements to become a somewhat successful song and could imagine it being played for years to come. The popularity of the song has only helped the band grow to new heights.

Each of the songs has its own unique sounds, but each song seemingly finds them fitting together. The album does need a few listens to fully process what they listened to. Since the album seems to be filled with references to the ’90s and has possible references to the bands’ childhood with audio of old home videos of them as kids. The album can make one think about their upbring and how much they can relate or how much their upbringing is different from the band. The album is an interesting listen and if you’re interested in a crossover between EDM and Rap then this is your album. I’m curious on what the band is planning next, are they going to make another album that keeps the same elements as Dreamland or are they going to make another album that blends between music genres.

Favorite Songs: “Tokyo Drifting” and “Heat Waves”

Rating: 7/10