Dream, Ivory - About A Boy (September 30, 2022) Album

Southern California-based Filipino duo Dream, Ivory — the project of brothers Christian and Louie Baello, ages 24 and 23 respectively — reject convention with a cool confidence, unafraid to push beyond the unpretentious, heartbreak dream pop that has made them a name online. On their 2016 EP, the self-titled Dream, Ivory, they were hip-hop heads celebrated for their skilled shoegaze. Now, on their debut record, About A Boy, they’ve completely reinvented themselves: turning away from the second-person insecurities of their teenage days to, instead, interrogate their interior selves on their most personal record yet.

Most young bands might be fearful of taking such a courageous leap, especially when their ethereal vocals and guitar distortions have done them well: “welcome and goodbye,” for example, a single Dream, Ivory dropped in March 2018, has amassed over 18 million views since it went live across TikTok and YouTube (thanks in large part to the kind of organic growth most musicians could only dream about: fans uploading their own videos to the platform, using the song, celebrating its nostalgic and romantic qualities). As of April 2022, the single has 2.98 million streams on SoundCloud and over 35 million on Spotify, no doubt placing them on the map. Dream, Ivory, it became known, was largely influenced by Beach Fossils’ riffs, Beach House’s synths and pads, and Slowdive’s air-y reverb — sounds they were able to draw from and engineer into a wistful music all their own. Echoes of that early sound remain on About A Boy, but they’re elevated: referencing everything from The Cure and Garbage to Smash Mouth and Sum 41.

The brothers started Dream, Ivory (named after the color of Louie’s Ibanez bass and Christian’s idea to personify the word “Ivory,” by adding the “Dream” verb) in 2016, almost as an accident. “We were [originally] making rap songs,” Louie says of their short lived hip-hop project back in 2015 — though they still make rap music in their downtime. “Christian started making beats because I wanted to be a rapper.” Part of that dynamic remains: Christian largely works on production while Louie handles the vocals. Before landing on the shoegaze pop of their Dream, Ivory EP, the two would post guitar covers on YouTube, largely of Panic! At the Disco circa-A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Christian handled the editing and production, directing his brother on camera. (Christian has had a lot of success producing under the name Ginseng, working with artists such as Yeat, Rico Nasty, Night Lovell, Lil Tracy, and basketball legend Dennis Rodman). read more

 

Word! They put out a few singles in 2020 that I really liked and then went quiet. Looking forward to this LP

 

Let’s gooooooo

 

Man. Loved the dream pop sounds on the debut. Could not be less into this haha. What a curveball