Rhythm isn’t just a catalyst for stunningly artistic charisma in Thomas Truax’s new LP Dream Catching Songs, featuring Budgie and drum machine Mother Superior; it just might be the greatest element in the framework the album features. Although Truax’s vocal creates unmatched character in tracks like “Dream Catching Song,” “The Anomalous Now,” “Free Floaters” and “Big Bright Marble,” it’s the grooving that transpires beneath his verses that tends to carry the greatest intensity in this piece. This record stings on the strength of its relentless beats and the collective force starting with its leading man, who might have solidified his place in history with this one-of-a-kind release.
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“Free Floaters” is could be considered the star centerpiece of this LP, but I don’t think it dwarfs any of the material sitting beside it at all. “A Wonderful Kind of Strange,” “The Fisherman’s Wishing Well Prayer,” and “Everything’s Going to be All Right” present us with just as grand a collection of narratives as the aforementioned material does, and I would even say that without the presence of all ten songs in this tracklist, we wouldn’t walk away from Dream Catching Songs feeling as affected by the content as we do in this instance. It’s quite a concept album, but for what Truax constructed it from, it certainly comes close to being anti-progressive in spots.
The production quality here is exceptional, and I think that “Origami Spy Arrives in Paper Boat” and “A Little More Time” particularly offer majestic sensibilities in a manner most of the music released this spring simply hasn’t. They say it’s hard to create a sound that stays fresh, and to me, a formidable indie album like this one goes a long way toward backing such a notion up. There’s nothing negatively tethering this to the present era; on the contrary, there’s a lot of elemental melodicism that could be revisited later down the line, were future artists keen enough to take influence from the structure of Dream Catching Songs.
Despite the staggered tempo in “Everything’s Going to be All Right” and “Free Floaters,” there’s nothing but pure intimacy in tracks like the vaulted “A Little More Time,” “The Anomalous Now,” and “The Fisherman’s Wishing Well Prayer,” dominating the big picture of this LP with personality more than familiarity. Truax’s is one of the most acerbic approaches to songcraft of any to have come out of the woodwork in his scene this year, and from certain angles, you can see where his direction could bleed into a lot of upstart alternative concepts still being experimented with in 2023.
Surprisingly more complex and sophisticated than I anticipated, Thomas Truax’s Dream Catching Songs and its ten tenacious slabs of sonic wonder comprise a record that I would highly recommend you take a look at this March, if for no other reason than to embrace the wit of a profoundly underrated singer/songwriter in the underground today. This is one killer LP, and whether you’re listening to him for the first time this March or rediscovering what Truax has become a bit of a star for, this LP is always a great listen for discerning music lovers.
Claire Uebelacker