The Story
âNever sink and never hide / They tried to break our dream, but child: / Joy Stops Timeâ.
"I was sent an unfinished version of Dose Your Dreams so that I might contribute string parts. I couldnât stop listening to the rough mixes I received. A friend asked me how the record was. I replied, âMy God, Fucked Up have made their Screamadelica.â
"And psych-rock-groove it is. The drums mixed wide, propensity for drones, for delay pedal, for repetition, groove. The politics and aesthetics of hardcore married to an âopen formatâ approach to genre. Elements of doo-wop, krautrock, groove, digital hardcore.
"âNone of Your Business Manâ opens the album in familiar enough territory, a sax-assisted exit from an office space. But things get psychedelic very quickly. By the time the title track arrives, Mike Haliechuk is whispering, wah pedals are in full effect, and weâre wearing oversized t-shirts and pinwheeling. âAccelerate,â the lyrical centerpiece of the album, storms in like Boredoms on a bullet train and dissolves into a digital nightmare. The album closer, âJoy Stops Time,â finds Fucked Up at their most DĂŒsseldorfian, nearly eight minutes of blissful motorik.
"At the center of it all is Damian Abrahamâs screamâa man chained, a man tortured, a true protagonist. The effect is one of an epic, every chapter attempting its own narrative devices, its own genre hybridizationâand it works, it works so insanely well. The drama unfolds like a miniature world of many parts being explored, a map being illuminated, location by location.
"As with David Comes to Life, there is a story here. Davidâwho once came to lifeâis now indentured to a desk job. David meets the elderly Joyce who closes his eyes, opens his mind, and sends him on a spiritual journey. David embarks on his own metaphysical odyssey. He sees a stage adaptation of his own life. He speaks to an angel in a lightbulb. He sees an infinite series of universes as simulations within simulations.
"Meanwhile, LloydâJoyceâs loverâwas sent, decades ago, by Joyce on the same odyssey, but was lost in the void. Lloyd seeks to be found and reunited with his lover. Where will David end up? Will Joyce and Lloyd be reunited?
"Dose Your Dreamsâmeaning: treat your dreams as you would a dream, allow yourself to be lost within them, allow them to open your heart and your mind, enjoy them as you would a drug. Reach out for my hand and pull me close."
âOwen Pallett
June 2018
Description
âNever sink and never hide / They tried to break our dream, but child: / Joy Stops Timeâ.
"I was sent an unfinished version of Dose Your Dreams so that I might contribute string parts. I couldnât stop listening to the rough mixes I received. A friend asked me how the record was. I replied, âMy God, Fucked Up have made their Screamadelica.â
"And psych-rock-groove it is. The drums mixed wide, propensity for drones, for delay pedal, for repetition, groove. The politics and aesthetics of hardcore married to an âopen formatâ approach to genre. Elements of doo-wop, krautrock, groove, digital hardcore.
"âNone of Your Business Manâ opens the album in familiar enough territory, a sax-assisted exit from an office space. But things get psychedelic very quickly. By the time the title track arrives, Mike Haliechuk is whispering, wah pedals are in full effect, and weâre wearing oversized t-shirts and pinwheeling. âAccelerate,â the lyrical centerpiece of the album, storms in like Boredoms on a bullet train and dissolves into a digital nightmare. The album closer, âJoy Stops Time,â finds Fucked Up at their most DĂŒsseldorfian, nearly eight minutes of blissful motorik.
"At the center of it all is Damian Abrahamâs screamâa man chained, a man tortured, a true protagonist. The effect is one of an epic, every chapter attempting its own narrative devices, its own genre hybridizationâand it works, it works so insanely well. The drama unfolds like a miniature world of many parts being explored, a map being illuminated, location by location.
"As with David Comes to Life, there is a story here. Davidâwho once came to lifeâis now indentured to a desk job. David meets the elderly Joyce who closes his eyes, opens his mind, and sends him on a spiritual journey. David embarks on his own metaphysical odyssey. He sees a stage adaptation of his own life. He speaks to an angel in a lightbulb. He sees an infinite series of universes as simulations within simulations.
"Meanwhile, LloydâJoyceâs loverâwas sent, decades ago, by Joyce on the same odyssey, but was lost in the void. Lloyd seeks to be found and reunited with his lover. Where will David end up? Will Joyce and Lloyd be reunited?
"Dose Your Dreamsâmeaning: treat your dreams as you would a dream, allow yourself to be lost within them, allow them to open your heart and your mind, enjoy them as you would a drug. Reach out for my hand and pull me close."
âOwen Pallett
June 2018
