Weird Dreams

The project of Doran Edwards, Weird Dreams began as a psych-pop duo before evolving into a meditative synth pop act. Edwards and Craig Bowers formed Weird Dreams in 2010 while they were working at an East London vintage clothes shop and bonded over their mutual love of <a href="spotify:artist:3oDbviiivRWhXwIE8hxkVV">the Beach Boys</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2Gu6Q05ExIGwHTF43kqLBI">David Lynch</a>, and '60s girl groups. Channeling those interests that bonded them back on the shop floor, this version of Weird Dreams sounded -- you guessed it -- dreamy and weird, with reverb-drenched catchy pop hooks laced with dark sentiment bouncing along to clean, California-soaked guitar lines. The pair wrote and recorded a self-titled four-track EP -- released on cassette through Bowers’ Sleep All Day Records imprint Sleepy King Cassettes -- as a two-piece before recruiting Hugo Edwards (bass) and James Wignall (guitar) to make another four-track EP, Hypnagogic Lullaby. As well as playing gigs with the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:2uf32eac3VFGHBonRKaLXQ">Women</a> and the <a href="spotify:artist:6Ri83BLqlgaqIc9jwSgAn1">Fresh & Onlys</a>, the band also appeared on a split <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Marshall+Teller%22">Marshall Teller</a> 7” with <a href="spotify:artist:1rYMX0uOOILJdtPCUGaSdv">Total Slacker</a>. Weird Dreams self-produced their debut album, which was recorded by Rory Atwell (<a href="spotify:artist:5uBih1nfHdYIQPvNvQAV6C">Male Bonding</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0mgbAj6btHW215UxhLq1AV">Veronica Falls</a>). Choreography was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tough+Love%22">Tough Love</a> in April 2012. When Weird Dreams resurfaced in 2016, it was the solo project of Edwards, who had moved to Paris and written hundreds of introspective songs inspired by the music of <a href="spotify:artist:0WtTGUjbur1R1cNzBvbsMU">Broadcast</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1tcgfoMTT1szjUeaikxRjA">Ryuichi Sakamoto</a> in the interim. Luxury Alone arrived in June 2016. ~ Daniel Clancy, Rovi