Album Review: DMA's: How Many Dreams?

Australian 3-piece rock band, DMA’s are back with their latest album How Many Dreams? set for release later this month.

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DMA's. Pic. Roman Jody

Australian 3-piece rock band, DMA’s are back with their latest album How Many Dreams? set for release later this month.

“Our palette for this album was a lot broader” explained DMA’s guitarist Johnny Took and throughout the record there are heavy themes of electro-influence. The opening track of the same title, How Many Dreams? has a prolonged, upbeat intro that creates a fever-dream paradox as the repetition of ‘how many dreams’ echoes on a loop. Later, in the track the band question how many dreams to find out what you have lost? Which sets the theme for the rest of the album.

Similarly to the opening track, Olympia asks more questions, however instead of looking to the future and all its uncertainty, it appears to be more reminiscent, asking ‘don’t you miss those early years.’ Vocalist Tommy O’Dell spoke about the album saying: “We’ve pushed ourselves harder than ever before,” the record appears to be very reflective of decisions made including themes of drinking and smoking which is very much what Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s the Weekend appears to be about.

Across the twelve tracks, How Many Dreams? weaves electronic dance elements seamlessly through the beloved foundations of guitar rock, punk, and lyricism, with the same energy and wide-eyed freedom as their 2016 debut album Hill’s End, Took says the pressure that came with albums two and three left the studio. “There’s something freeing when you make your first record; you’ve never made a record before and, in a way, there is nothing to lose. We’ve learned so much since our debut and we’ve listened to so much more music between then and now, which has shaped us. It felt like a first outing all over again. The excitement was the same.”

Dear Future is a much more emotive song, personifying ‘the future’ as if it was a person or even an object that could be touched that O’Dell is clinging to and waiting for in order to keep a grip on his current reality. Lyrics ‘I can tell my friends about you’ suggest that this future is more than just an idea but a reality he is waiting on.

The final track De Carle, brings the album full-circle, mirroring How Many Dreams? with the electro-themed opening and echoey vocals. Overall, this album appears to explore themes of self-understanding and looking to both the past and present for inspiration. The band added: “We were trying to make a record that reminded us of what we were all into before DMA’S. We’ve been revisiting a lot of music from back in the day – our inspirations and our own music.”

Guitarist Matt Mason explained that the record was crafted around the experience of the fans and – for the first time – with their euphoric live set front of mind. “We’ve tried to think about the people listening to it at home and how they might like this out there on stage.”

How Many Dreams? comes out on March 31 alongside a UK and Ireland headline tour.

APRIL

Wed 05 Cambridge Corn Exchange

Thu 06 Exeter University Great Hall

Fri 07 Bournemouth O2 Academy

Sun 09 Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

Mon 10 Wolverhampton KK's Steel Mill

Wed 12 Lincoln Engine Shed

Thu 13 Bradford St George's Hall

Sat 15 Middlesbrough Town Hall

Sun 16 Dundee Fat Sam's

Mon 17 Aberdeen Music Hall

Wed 19 Glasgow O2 Academy

Thu 20 Manchester O2 Apollo

Fri 21 London OVO Wembley Arena

MAY

Tue 23 Dublin 3 Olympia Theatre

Wed 24 Belfast Telegraph Building

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