There’s an airy, dream-like, wistfulness behind Beverly Kills’ music, and the Swedish indie dream-pop band has recently released another gem to add to their collection of reality-altering sounds.
When Beverly Kills released their first single “Fourteen” earlier this year, many were quick to label them as a post-punk indie band – post-punk being a broad type of rock music that emerged from the punk movement. However, once the band released their single “Melodrama,” listeners began to slightly change their minds on how to define this eclectic group. It’s not until the release of their latest single, “Revellers” that they were fully thrust into the world of indie dream-pop. However, what is it about their music that radiates this surrealism? Well, It’s not what their singing about that brings you into a trance, it’s all just about the way they sound.
As individuals, and as a group, they know how to make a sound come alive with an ethereal quality that many artists aspire to achieve.
“Revellers” does an exemplary job at portraying their shift into dream-pop. Like I mentioned before, the lyrics of the song are not the focus. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean the words aren’t important, but they’re not essential to the band’s recognizable sound. While the words themselves don’t contribute greatly to their sound, the woman singing them sure does play a huge part. The lead vocalist doesn’t do anything crazy with her voice. There are no wild riffs being sung nor is there a great use of vibrato. This simplistic style of singing helps to create the airy feeling the band is going for as the vocals aren’t taking any attention from the band’s overall sound. The production of the vocals contributes to this sound as well. The heavy use of reverb, as well as the doubling of the voice really helps create this introspective tone.
While the vocals are extremely important to the vibe of the song, we can’t forget about the backing instruments that tie it all together, starting with the electric guitars. One is playing power chords in the right ear and the other is using a picking style in the left, both with plenty of reverb and delay. The reverb effect that is added to the guitars helps give the song the dreamy timbre that Beverly Kills was going for. However, it’s not just about how the guitars are played or what effects are put on them, it’s also about the way the sounds are all mixed together.
The production of this song is key in creating this recognizable dream pop sound. As aforementioned, one guitar is panned slightly to the right so that you hear it in your right earbud and the other is panned slightly to the left. In the middle of each guitar is where we hear the vocals, so that the guitar surrounds the voice. The voice also seems as if it has been pushed back in the mix to make it seem further away. This on top of all of the reverb placed on each instrument helps create the spacey sound they wanted to achieve, portraying how important mixing a song is to the final product.
If you’re looking for a song to carry you up and away, go give “Revellers” a listen!
