Weird Dreams returns after four years with beautifully wistful new song "The Ladder"

The track opens with a cinematic soundscape soon interrupted by a dreamy synth motif that undulates unchanged throughout. Beneath this, a softly thudding bass drum acts as the track’s steady, slow heartbeat, occasionally coming to the forefront at the track’s most reflective moments.

Vocals float ethereally above soft electronics, and the brooding opening lyrics - "Paint my face with jade and pour a drink" - set the track’s wistful tone.

The refrain throughout, "Let the ladders be", is sung with effortless acceptance by Doran Edwards, and the dark, unsettled line "Let me hear your tears spiral out of control, I miss my friends" creates an effective contrast to the steady, repeating synth and bass drum that underpin it

Weird Dreams' four-minute track can be almost exactly split in two halves: the first focussing on the brooding lyrics and simple accompaniment, the second providing a more contemplative instrumental that builds slowly over the same warm electro throb and vocal refrain: "Let the ladders be".

Whilst the quiet build of dissonant electronics and shimmery, distorted samples lend themselves to a much more modern style of production than Choreography, Weird Dreams maintains his characteristic lo-fi, retro sound through "The Ladder"'s sheer and effective simplicity.

Speaking about the track, Edwards says: "It's been a long and short four years. Weird Dreams never stopped for me, it just became private. The songwriting was a near constant.

"There's more music to share soon, but starting with 'The Ladder' now feels right, as it was the first song of real difference, and remained unfinished for a few years while I obsessed over an image that I began to pursue as sound on the last Weird Dreams song before this one ('House of Secrets') - the reflections of water on a swimming pool ceiling at night.

"For reasons that are still unclear, this imagined image of light and water moved me in a desperate time, distracting from what felt like the rest of the world falling away."

"The Ladder" is a track to get lost in; it’s spacious, contemplative character swells in and out of consciousness to create a beautiful, carefully crafted piece.

Words: Holly Manners

Weird Dreams presents Luxury Alone on 7 March @ The Waiting Room, London

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