DREAMWELL - In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You (LP)

Providence, RI's Dreamwell cut their teeth for many years before they were able to craft their debut full length album Modern Grotesque, self-released in 2021. The recruitment of vocalist K.Z. Staska, filling out their third and final lineup, in 2019 set the creation of their first album in motion. Writing Modern Grotesque was a messy, imperfect process bloated with stumbling points and road blocks, but would prove to be an important learning experience for the band. It pushed each of them to the limits of their writing capabilities, and helped them discover their own style.
If Modern Grotesque was the album that turned Dreamwell into a powerful force, their sophomore album In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You is that force pushing its full weight for the first time. With this being their first time intending to actually write a full album, and being able to sit together and start it from scratch, the band was more locked in and in tune with one another than ever. That sense of unity and intentionality permeates every aspect of this album, from the bold songwriting to the cohesiveness of the album's lyrical themes and ideas. It further pushes the boundaries of what can be considered screamo, borrowing sounds and aesthetics from everything ranging from 90s metalcore to the most morose of doom. The dark and chaotic nature of the album backs up the record's themes. In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You is an exploration of the hardships of navigating interpersonal relationships and through the static of Borderline Personality Disorder. Its loose narrative structure follows a narrator character who finds himself trapped in a series of unending waking nightmares, full hallucinations distorting reality around him and forcing him to try and deal with his fears, mental health, and relationships with other people in confusing and horrifying new ways as he struggles to tell the difference between reality and distortion.