DMAs – ‘How Many Dreams?’ album review
Since emerging in 2016 with their debut album, Hills End, DMA’s have continuously developed their sound while growing their army of fans. Their first record was a throwback sonically, but that’s never who the Australian outfit wanted to be, and How Many Dreams? is the most full-bodied explanation of their true identity yet.
Speaking to Far Out earlier this year, guitarist Matt Mason explained how DMA’s began life as an electronic band, but it was too expensive to make it work as a live outfit, so they chose the traditional route. He explained: “We started making electronic music before we released any songs. Something that a lot of people don’t know is we started as an electronic band. When we wanted to play live, we didn’t have any electronic instruments, so we used guitars and pushed back into the guitar world. Now we have bigger budgets for shit and can make electronic music.”
DMA’s first hinted at this electronic sound on their last album, The Glow, but on How Many Dreams? they’ve taken the experiment even further. However, they’ve not completely transformed into a new band, and there’s a selection of tracks on the new LP, such as ‘Dear Future’ and ‘Fading Like A Picture’ which could be from any of their albums.
To some, it may seem like DMA’s have only included these sing-a-long tracks to appease their fanbase, who may oppose the evolution of their sound. If that was true, they’d have toned down the bold, adventurous creations like ‘Something We Are Overcoming’, ‘Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s The Weekend’, and ‘De Carle’ on the album. Ultimately, there’s a version of DMA’s designed for daytime radio, another for the after-party, and they co-exist on How Many Dreams?
In reality, this collection of songs shouldn’t work, yet, somehow, it largely does, bar a couple of road bumps. After the exhilarating fun of the preceding tracks, the comedown of ‘Dear Future’ and ‘Jai Alai’ is unwelcome at first, but all is forgiven once the chorus kicks in. These two worlds best combine on ‘I Don’t Need To Hide’ and ‘Get Ravey’ where DMA’s cultivate the differing essences effortlessly on the same track.
With their fourth album, DMA’s are sounding more confident than ever before, and when they’ve reached for the stars like on the audacious closing track, ‘De Carle’, they’ve pulled off the feat. It would have been easy for the group to stick with their formula, which has served them so well, and is why they are headlining Wembley Arena next month. Instead, the Aussies have challenged themselves artistically and reaped the rewards from their decision.
Individually, all of the dozen songs on the album are strong in their own right. The only major issue is the running order which leads to a lull towards the end of the record before ‘Something We Are Overcoming’ re-energises the album. While How Many Dreams? will be too much of a left-turn for some fans; DMA’s needed this reinvention to stay true to themselves, rid themselves of Britpop comparisons, and not go stale. More importantly, it’s a record that’ll make you dance and feel hopeful about the future.
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