If you’re anything like me, you’re the type of person who takes pride in searching high and low for music that most people have probably never heard of. Instead of listening to the never-ending loop of overplayed songs on the radio, you prefer listening to songs or albums that don’t get nearly as much attention as other popular artists, if any at all. If you fall under that description, Timber Timbre’s new album “Hot Dreams” is worthy of obtaining a place in your underground music collection. “Hot Dreams” is an obscure musical gem just waiting to be discovered by eager music lovers.
Despite having released four previous albums, I had never really heard much about the band Timber Timbre aside from a few singles here and there. With their latest release, my perspective of the band shifted from a slight fascination with their unique sound to an engrossing obsession with the music released within their newest album. “Hot Dreams” is folk music infused with a psychedelic mind trip that makes you feel like you’ve just been thrown into the middle of “The Twilight Zone.” Everything about this album gives off a haunting and disturbing vibe that is simultaneously soft and beautiful.
The album opens up with the amazing track “Beat the Drum Slowly,” which slowly builds with quiet, long-sustaining notes that are soon joined by the strumming of an acoustic guitar and Taylor Kirk’s deep, Johnny Cash-like vocals. As the song progresses, eerie synthesized notes are implemented to give off that psychedelic vibe. While this song sets the tone beautifully for the rest of the album, “Hot Dreams” is littered with standout tracks that consistently offer unique and creative sounds, including “Grand Canyon,” which sets the scene of a dry western American desert. This image is brought out by the slow drumbeat and the fiddle that is implemented within the song. The songs “Curtains!?” and “Bring Me Simple Men” provide memorable guitar chords that also give an incredible amount of character to the album.
Every single musical aspect of “Hot Dreams” plays its own unique role in adding to the overall trippy and distorted atmosphere of the album. Tracks like “Hot Dreams” are filled with a satisfying variety of musical instrumentation, which includes soft acoustic guitar strumming, incredible saxophone solos, high-pitched guitar riffs, a perfectly placed bass and even some sounds I can’t quite put my finger on. Kirk’s voice resonates in tracks like “Run From Me,” and throughout the entirety of the album it becomes entrancing and intoxicating. These songs throw listeners into a world of imagination. The folk style of music, Kirk’s deep voice and the high-pitched distorted guitar riffs allow listeners to get lost in a deep, sometimes disturbing mental conundrum.
Every single track on this album provides something incredible and unique. I was continuously blown away the by the amount of creativity that was poured into Timber Timbre’s latest and greatest. Its haunting atmosphere and creative and beautiful music make “Hot Dreams” an extraordinary album that has an incredible amount of substance and variety, and new and old fans will find plenty of reasons to play the entire album multiple times through.
4/5
