Truth be told, Shaun Durkan is a pretty odd cat. He plays in Weekend (the one with all the vowels) and Tamaryn, has done the album art for acts as varied as No Joy, Thursday, Wax Idols, Sixteen Stone, and Azar Swan, he looks like a cute West Wing intern, and he unashamedly likes Armor For Sleep. Despite the questionable taste in mid-aughts emo and Wolf Puppy of Wall Street aesthetic, his resume is strong as fuck. He is continuing his strength-to-strength crab walk with his new solo project, Grem, and the resulting new tape out August 11 on Dream Recordings, Bedsores.I don’t really know what “dream pop” is. I always assumed it was just shoegaze with slightly higher self esteem, and I’m pretty sure Grem isn’t that. But it’s definitely the pop one would hear in a dream. Bedsores opens with almost a minute of crowd chatter at a graduation ceremony, the tape stops, restarts and then there’s 40 continuous minutes of waves of guitar, pulsing bass, vocals coming in and out like a conversation in the next room. Occasionally the tape stops and starts again, to allow in the sound of rain or screaming. The A-side is almost formless but with enough low-end heft and reoccurring propulsion to keep the listener engaged, if day dreaming. Like if David Lynch remade 10 Things I Hate About You instead of whatever inevitable disappointment factory he’s currently toiling in. The B-side is all shoegaze bangers. Like Lynch got fired from the project and they brought in McG’s gothic stepson to direct. I haven’t gone to the movies since Return of The Guardians so I hope these analogies work.Whether your proclivities lean more towards dreamscape slow jams or just endurance run pill addiction, Grem should satisfy your needs. Noisey is stoked beyond measure that the good people at Dream Recordings (thematic pun not intended, though the kids dig what the kids dig) are allowing us to stream side A of Bedsores in it’s entirety. Enjoy and pre-order the limited edition tape here.
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