Mystery man David West announces himself with the free pop soundscapes of "Dream on Dreamer"

10 May 2016, 14:00 | Written by Andrew Hannah

(Tracks)

We live now in an internet-savvy age where we are able to document every moment of an artist's existence, where an album becomes a living, incomplete thing. We grow with it from inception in the creator's mind to the point where we are updated with the various "final" versions through to a place where we can't remember when this thing wasn't in our lives. So when something comes along fully-formed completely out of the blue it's both stunning and utterly refreshing. This is the music of David West. And it's incredible.

An Australian based in the USA, David West - a former member of the excellent Total Control - divides his time between his bands Rat Columns, Liberation and Rank/Xerox, but when he's not doing this he creates wonderful, unclassifiable pop music from (possibly) the confines of his bedroom.

Having already released the Drop Out of Collage cassette last year, West is now ready to unleash his debut album Peace or Love in August. The first taste comes in the form of the stunning mini-epic "Dream on Dreamer".

Built around a clattering breakbeat and flute loop that recalls fellow Aussies The Avalanches, born out of trawling through samples stored on his hard drive, West eases the track between the synthetic and the organic thanks to the addition of his lazy vocals and swooping synths which flit back and forth across the speakers. It creates the feeling of a disco song, but one that's been dismantled and reverse engineered through a pyschedelic prism, and dumped somewhere beachside.

Simulatenously structured and structureless, when West sings "Angels of light have your souls in a vice / we want to be free / we want to be loved / we want to be kissed from heaven above" it's the most passionate plea for freedom you will have heard in a long time.

David West's very special Peace or Love will be out 5 August via Tough Love, but you can listen to the worldwide premiere of "Dream on Dreamer" below.