Dreamland

Glass Animals - Dreamland
Critic Score
Based on 19 reviews
2020 Ratings: #619 / 871
User Score
2020 Rank: #970
Liked by 67 people
August 7, 2020 / Release Date
LP / Format
Wolf Tone / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
DIY
It's testament to the band's skill that at no point does 'Dreamland''s infatuation with the East Coast come off as culture-vulture voyeurism. Instead, they have crafted a new geography of their own, pulling together all of their strengths and vulnerabilities.
80
musicOMH

A heavy hip-hop influence pervades throughout, but the blueprint of the Oxford band remains: dreamy, danceable psych-pop beats providing the backdrop to the most troublesome of memoirs.

80
AllMusic

Glass Animals' most cohesive and satisfying album to date, Dreamland is a well-deserved triumph that's as rewarding for fans to hear as it was for the band to make.

80
NME

‘Dreamland’ is stuffed with effervescent nuggets of pop gold ... Yet look behind glittering shells of these tunes and you’ll find hugely personal stories, told with new strength and resilience.

80
The Forty-Five
Compared with Glass Animals’ previous records, it’s a sadder, more reflective prospect – fewer hulking great choruses, more meandering contemplation.
80
Q Magazine
The nostalgia would be overwhelming where it not for Bayley's ability to offset it with woozy, elastic beats, suggesting that all that time listening to Dr Dre wasn't wasted.
80
The Arts Desk

It matches How to Be a Human Being in style and high points, if not quite variety or consistent quality. It may not convert unbelievers, but for fans, Dreamland is a continuation of a winning formula.

80
Clash

A brave and ultimately bold move, it’s hugely effective – direct yet sumptuously nuanced, ‘Dreamland’ is a triumph.

80
Gigwise

Dreamland is a very well executed album, it is progressive in all the right ways, without ever losing sight of the group’s quirky signature sound.

80
Dork
Not only the most ambitious Glass Animals album to date, and their most personal, it's arguably their most rewarding collection too.
80
The Independent
Thinking of childhood in such analytical detail can throw up wonderful memories, sure, but it can bring out dark things, too – things that tend to hang around in later life. It makes for a complex, thoughtful and moving record.
70
RIOT

Drenched in warm, honeyed vocals and tunes referencing heatwaves and tropical fruit, Glass Animals return with a timely pairing for the sweltering August weather.

70
God Is in the TV

There are moments where the lyrics can get a bit ludicrous and some songs veer a bit too much towards the pop production of Maroon 5. Nonetheless, it’s brave and admirable for Dave Bayley and Glass Animals to take the challenging leap into more exposing lyrics.

60
The Guardian
It retains their hallucinogenic sound but injects it with more glimmers of autobiography than they’ve ever previously shared.
60
Slant Magazine
The album makes room for evocative, sensory lyrics and sonics that verge on the cinematic, but it also spends a lot of time on the mundane.
60
Evening Standard

Other songs blend seamlessly into each other, which is both an endearing and disappointing factor in an overall assured and intimate album.

57
Pitchfork
The UK psych-pop band stretches out to embrace hip-hop production and personal biography. It comes across like a guy trying to tell you his life story in a packed Coachella tent.
50
Sputnikmusic

If Dreamland is any indicator of their direction from here on out, I’ll have to content myself with Glass Animals being a slightly-better version of something mediocre.

40
No Ripcord

Dreamland is a project that’s as momentarily annoying as it is infinitely forgettable.

nostalgia
30

Bro what is this cringe vaporware aesthetic. I get it bro you think it's so cool and quirky but no, it's just cringe. Vaporware is for fucking dweebs, go listen to some real music like Dream Theatre or Meshuggah you Kevin Parker wannabe looking ass.

JacksonLerner
72

glass animals have ascended into a musical institution (listen to “your love (déjà vu)”).

at its most basic, this album is just fun.

honestly though, it is a disappointing album.

BradTasteMusic
52

This album is so boring, quirky, and misguided, that Heat Waves, a song I have hated since I first heard it, sounds like a god damn masterpiece in the track list.

Let’s get one thing straight, the lyrics fucking suck ass on this album. It’s so tongue and cheek, sounding like scattershot keywords to make you think it’s a vibe without providing any substance. Dave is a horrible singer, thinking that being different means being annoying.

The beats are okay, and there is ... read more

CabooseBeech
54

This is my second time listening to this album but it’s been a long time since I’ve listened to the full project so I wanted to see if my thoughts changed at all. The first time I didn’t really like most of the songs on here except for Tokyo drifting, helium, and heat waves so I guess we will see if my feelings have grown for this album at all.

For the most part my thoughts have sadly stayed the same for this project. I think a couple songs grew on me and a couple shrunk on ... read more

NeoBahamut
37

it's SOOOOOOOO BORINGGGGGGGGGG

45

1 Dreamland -35
2 Tangerine -55
3 ((home movie: 1994)) -10
4 Hot Sugar -60
5 ((home movie: btx)) -10
6 Space Ghost Coast To Coast -80
7 Tokyo Drifting -70
8 Melon and the Coconut -25
9 Your Love (Déjà Vu) -85
10 Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth -70
11 It’s All So Incredibly Loud -50
12 ((home movie: rockets)) -15
13 Domestic Bliss -30
14 Heat Waves -60
15 ((home movie: shoes on)) -10
16 Helium -50

I think this album objectively fails as an album experience. I understand ... read more

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Added on: April 30, 2020