Dreamtime – Dreamtime
Used as an album title by the likes of The Cult, The Stranglers and Tom Verlaine, Dreamtime is an enigmatic Aboriginal way of cosmological thinking in which an individual’s entire ancestry exists as one, an idea that culminates in all worldly knowledge being accumulated through one’s ancestors and the notion that the present, past and future co-exist in eternal space. It’s an apt moniker, then, worn by trippy Brisbane power trio Dreamtime for they dabble in the sort of heavy, acid-fried psychedelic noise that feels like a rite of passage.
Originally released in 2011, the band’s S/T debut is now once again getting re-released due to continuing demand generated by well-received support slots alongside the likes of Moon Duo, Kikagaku Moyo and Boris, as well as an appearance at the Austin Psych Fest. Dreamtime may comprise of just five songs, but each is made to count, flighty grooves held down with leaden boots, wah wah and surf motifs eking out of the fret-slides. Scalding with one hand and soothing with the other, “Slag” deploys a strangled blast of speaker-blown cones by way of a melody and plays it off against Catherine Maddin’s silky wail. “Gympie”, too, simmers on cymbal splash and deeply reverbed soloing, pivoting on a sixpence into dynamic chug, guitarist Zac Anderson’s vocal surprisingly calm and collected when it does arrive.
Anderson channels Jim Morrison instead on “Bermuda”, a grimy volley of garage-doom that’s decidedly more paranormal triangle than it is golden beaches and flowery shorts. The Doors vibe then continues on “Robe”, a solid drum pattern adding a sense of solemn ritual to a Western showdown ultimately won out by rumbling sub-bass, sacred sounding harmonies and neat guitar interplay duelling like six shooters. Nine-minute closer, “Eve”, literally howls like a wolf, undulating nauseously to a funky improv middle that then spins out into the sort of experimentalism on which their later Sun LP would build its base (also being re-released by Captcha and Cardinal Fuzz).
Dreamtime still sounds fresh five years on, but could that be because, perhaps, considering the fluidity of yesterday, tomorrow and today, we’re only now really hearing it for the first time?
~Dreamtime is re-released March 11th 2016 on heavyweight pink vinyl with a mirror-board sleeve via the collaborative efforts of Captcha and Cardinal Fuzz.~