The Dream Syndicate - The Universe Inside
The Paisley underground scene is one of the lesser known movements in rock music, but in the mid-1980s its influence was being felt everywhere.
Broadly owing a debt to the west coast scene of two decades before, it fused guitar interplay with broad strokes of psychedelia and acrobatic harmonies, as per Love and The Byrds; The Dream Syndicate were one alumni of the scene, taking the innovation of The Velvet Underground but adding some punk energy which went on to influence Echo & The Bunnymen in Blighty, while Prince named his label (Paisley Park Records) after the movement. Brilliantly, the scene’s only mainstream success was The Bangles.
Since their reformation in 2012, and like many other reunited bands, The Dream Syndicate gradually came round to the idea that there might be an interest in hearing new music too, and with The Universe Inside they have now released as many albums post-split as they did in the first phase of their career. With a pace of development that puts many younger acts to shame, for the fourth year in succession a new album has been unveiled.
Calling this an album is something of a misnomer, as it’s structured more as a symphony. Consisting of only five tracks with a runtime of an hour (derived from an 80-minute jam session), it’s unfocused, at times shambolic and stretches the meaning of self-indulgent. It’s also, at several points, superb.
Opening track ‘Regulator’ is twenty minutes of noodling psychedelia with the only consistency provided by an incessant drum machine. The guitar lines channel the sound of 1970s New York at the start and become a fuzzed-out shimmering wall of noise by the end. There’s sitars, warbling sax, seemingly random archive quotations and presumably a kitchen sink all hidden beneath deliberately muffled production. Yet everything subtly evolves so as not to appear too fragmented, so that by the end of the twenty minutes you’re listening to a completely different track.
As with the rest of the album, one track segues into another as ‘Regulator’ becomes ‘The Longing’, mainly dominated by ethereal, shimmering guitar and more traditional (i.e. human) drumming and singing. It then gives way to ‘Apropos Of Nothing’, which is Roxy Music covering On The Corner by Miles Davis. Representing the deterioration and subsequent rebuilding of the mind, its first half is sultry and sleazy before the pace ups rapidly in the second which then melts into the strutting ‘Dusting Off The Rust’, a fusion of German prog rock, west coast buzz and Morricone soundscapes. Lastly, ‘The Slowest Rendition’ has the atmospheric ambience of Berlin Eno/Bowie, all twinkling, sax driven electronica against a monologue delivered by Steve Wynn.
The Universe Inside is a swirling, progressive whirlpool that engulfs for a blissful hour. The lack of structure, or indeed songs, may not be to everybody’s tastes, but its adventurous nature is an excellent tonic, an escape route from the modern world.