Review Summary: An exciting adventure through time.
With an album as dense as
Lavender Town, it’s hard to ignore the clear influences on Dwellings as a unit. To be fair, you’d be hard-pressed to find a modern post-hardcore band not somewhat looking to recreate that Dance Gavin Dance magic. But there’s something about Dwellings that makes it more fulfilling. The vocalist sounds just like Kurt Travis, just with even more range. The instrumentals sound just like a mix of DGD and Chon, except more expressive and free-flowing. They’re more than their counterparts, and it results in such an exciting listen, you’d struggle to find an album filled with more joy than
Lavender Town.
Without skipping a beat, Dwellings are able to switch between long, expansive tracks (‘Foreverest’) and short, impactful bursts (‘Pink Noise’), while keeping their sound fresh with longer tracks (‘Color of the Cat Tree’). It’s all here, building environments full of catchy guitars, punchy bass lines, and intricate drum patterns, backed by an incredible performance from vocalist Isaac Wilson. It’s difficult to not draw comparisons to Kurt Travis, but Isaac takes Kurt’s delivery a step further, providing an incredibly varied and detailed vocal performance that drags the listener into the backgrounds the tracks have developed. His output on tracks like the aforementioned ‘Color of the Cat Tree’ and closer ‘A.T.M. (At The Moment)’ showcase a deft ear for melodies, taking hold of tracks while simultaneously letting them flow. His voice is omnipresent, combining with the guitars often to create such a natural excitement. ‘See It Through’ showcases this brilliantly, as the track goes through different phases artistically, guitars firing in all directions as the vocals switch between soothing and panicked. It’s this combo that continually impresses, backed by an impressive array of loud and proud bass lines and cool and intricate drum patterns. It’s all here, giving established post-hardcore bands a real run for their money.
At times,
Lavender Town feels just like bands of the past and present. But, most importantly, it showcases hopes for the future. It can feel as if the genre known as ‘swancore’ is slowly becoming saturated with great output, but Dwellings proves there’s still so much life left in it. It’s their want to push themselves to create tracks that incorporate both their influences and their own signature sound that makes
Lavender Town an album that lacks flaws. It’s pure joy in music form, and I sincerely hope Dwellings stick around to keep providing it.
4.5/5
Recommended Tracks: Pink Noise, Foreverest, See It Through, A.T.M. (At The Moment)
