The year is 2020, and the world is shut down. Glass Animals has just released their newest album after 4 years of silence. A lot has changed for the band, since with their tour for their last album How to Be a Human Being being cut short after the drummer (Joe Seaward) was injured in a biking accident. In August 2020, Glass Animals released their 3rd album: Dreamland. This album really fit the vibe of the pandemic, but is packed full of nostalgia and instructions on how to fully enjoy this album.

The Album’s Contents & Theme

The album cover is very vaporwave, which is was created around the 2010s but got popular around 2015. The style, at least in my opinion is reminiscent to the 1980s with the bright colorful clothes and geometric shapes. Yet, the contents of the theme as mentioned before is nostalgia. It has reminiscent sounds, and themes within the songs (like Tokyo Drifting, Space Ghost, Dunkaroos) that are also older media.

The creation of this album was based on the fear of uncertainty. Dave Bayley (the lead singer) was writing this album while in the hospital with Seaward. It started off as Bayley’s first memories of his childhood in Texas (with some home recordings in the album) and a lot of nostalgic things in the 1990s and 2000s (which explains a lot of the nostalgia behind the album).

A Few Songs

As mentioned, the songs are full of nostalgia. As someone from the 2000s who grew up within the 2000s and 2010s there is still some nostalgia within it. But, even with the nostalgic sound and vocals there is still that charm that Glass Animals is known for.

Tangerine has to be one of my favorite songs, because it definitely has some of 2000s. It mentions posting of aerial selfies, Mr Miyagi (which while not a 2000s reference still is a staple as a good movie and holds a lot of memories), Friends (which while another thing from the 90s it really defined the 90s/2000s). But the whole song is just sweet, and tries to be light hearted and pop like.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast is the opposite of Tangerine for it’s sound. It starts off very heavy with its use of instrumentation and the deep bass. It is more heavy with nostalgia with dunkaroos (the original, and not the new ones), the title of the name being an old show. It mentions Pokémon, bottle rockets, Robocop, Nintendo, James Bond, those old school dances where everyone was nervous and awkward, and Capri Sun’s. While a lot of these are still around today, the point is there’s a special memory attached to these things. A few of these I can relate to, with my Nintendo DS and just playing the same 4 games. I have a core memory of Pokémon with my Piplup card (the first one I ever had and would have for a few years), and Capri Sun’s when I got them in the rare moments.

The Website

Like many bands today, they have two websites. One to spend your hard earned money, and the other to enjoy or play around with, find secrets, etc. Glass Animals is no different. Their website (linked here), is representing their latest album, but also their older albums. It has a bunch of photos, and audio for Dreamland but also a lot of photos for How to Be a Human Being and Zaba (the other two Glass Animals albums). It has some of the interesting song bites that anyone can download. It’s a really fun website to explore, and it even gives instructions on how to truly enjoy Dreamland. I will try out the instructions when I am home with my album, and possibly I will report back.