Timber Timbre

Hot Dreams

There's a widescreen Morricone-like quality to the sound, while a spooky sense of dread sometimes infers David Lynch.

Timber Timbre, in crafting Hot Dreams, have cultivated an immensely strong record and an alternate sonic dimension you can spend a lifetime exploring.

In evoking an unsettled mind yearning for simpler times, Kirk as warped the gothic folk feel of his older work into something abrasive, and even nightmarish. 

Overall, Hot Dreams doesn’t quite match up to the trio’s last record – it lacks a comparable number of top notch songs – but it still has some great moments.

With Hot Dreams Timber Timbre have continued to perfect their sound and aesthetic: no matter what influences or styles they are drawing upon, they are still at their most powerful when they're sending mixed messages. 

While Hot Dreams is slightly less immediate than Creep on Creepin' On, its potent cocktail of menace, glamour, and vulnerability is nothing less than transporting.

These brooding, darkly shaded arrangements run the risk of being kitsch. But when Timber Timbre drop the horror pretense and focus on the neurotic ticks and inadequacies that come with romantic obsession, the band are at their best.

They're capable of generating an intriguing unease when they keep things subtle, but for an album that so often sounds stripped-back, there's a surprisingly frequent tendency towards the kitchen sink here, at least in atmospheric terms.

Kirk's irresistible vocals lend the album all the quality it needs, and their lighter touches and some inspired choices really add depth to the monochromatic and claustrophobic formula.