CD Review: Dream Wife – “So When You Gonna…” (2020)

To be honest, picking albums to review lately hasn’t been particularly exciting. Looking at recent releases on any given week right now has resulted in me having to take more risks as the names become less and less familiar. Oh sure, I could’ve reviewed the Bob Dylan record, but how awkward would it be that THAT was my entry point to a musician like him? As much as this column has given me opportunities to discover new bands, it’s also difficult to find one that feels worthwhile to write about. Much like last week’s Coriky album, I found myself coming up short because it was hard for me to find substance. Sure, the best of critics can find something to say about anything, but… that didn’t prepare me for this week.

After looking through my options, I landed on Dream Wife almost out of appreciation for the gimmick. The band who formed at Brighton University in England had one of the best premises I’ve read in some time. They were a “fake girl band” and produced a mockumentary in the style of This is Spinal Tap (1984) where they performed at an art gallery exhibition. They were also named for the romantic comedy Dream Wife (1953) with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, meaning that they either had some tastes or access to TCM’s schedule. So much of the behind the scenes material gave me hope that I was diving into a band that had the potential to be exciting, producing a brand of pop-punk that I stopped paying attention to years ago. 

At the same time, I grew leery that I was giving in to “fake girl band.” Having just seen Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020), I recognize what terribly fake music can do: be overproduced and painfully self-aware. Would I fall victim to the joke that Dream Wife was trying to tell? Things like Rolling Stone Magazine reviews from Lollapalooza ’18 at least told me that they played loud and fast, creating a “bitches to the front” policy where women who wanted to mosh together were given that opportunity.  

Okay, I think that you’re starting to win me over. It sounds like there’s something genuine in this band, whose second album “So When You Gonna…” has received decent reviews and promises to explore themes important to Dream Wife.

As far as introductions go, the opening song “Sports!” had this strange reassurance and hesitation. In terms of tone and aggression, it’s reminiscent of Le Tigre’s “Decepticon,” with its bouncy melody and bridges that creatively deconstruct what a pop song can do. It plays with form in ways that make you curious to see what comes next. If read sincerely, it’s one that distills the competitive nature of sports down to its essence, using buzz words to embody how much people are pushed to focus their energy. It’s a fun song and one that props the listener up and asks them to pay attention.

With that said, if it’s satire, it is borderline reminiscent of the more tongue-in-cheek Garfunkel & Oates song “Go Sports Go,” which similarly breaks down lyrics in a more winking fashion. The joke is that this group doesn’t actually understand sports, so they use them in an almost pandering look at competition. 

That is why it’s difficult to look at verses and understand just what is genuine:

I've got ice water in my veins

Throwing a swift curveball (Damn)

Too much talk, this ain't a run, it's marathon (Run, run, run, run)

Put your eye on the ball when it's in your court (Null points)

Dropping balls, missing goals

Do you even play this sport?

For a fake girl band, it’s tough to really determine how sincere this song is. Given that what follows are songs tied to feminism, identity, and sexuality, it may lean more towards the middle of these two, managing to be a song you’ll mistakenly hear on ESPN, even as it uses lines like “height is time, time is money, never apologize” and aspects to criticize how sports create a selfish atmosphere.

To be honest, it’s also misleading simply because what follows lacks the aggression and big production of “Sports!” It does return later, specifically in “So When You Gonna…,” but the other songs lean more towards the pop side of Dream Wife’s image. “Hasta La Vista” plays like Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” if it was slowed down and given beachy undertones where the breeze can be heard in the background. As a song about relationships ending, it’s sincere and beautiful while adding a cute and childlike in-joke in the recurring phrase “Hasta la vista baby,” likely a reference to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). It’s an organic and beautiful way to reflect something youthful without teetering into full parody.

Dream Wife at times is reminiscent of a band like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, capturing a frank honesty with wry humor that makes them feel more vital and unique. You understand how they could be seen as rebellious, even if they lack the sloppiness of their D.I.Y. moniker. What they really have going for them is this ability to reshape a love song into something perverse and maybe even crass. In the third song on the album, singer Rakel Mjöll creates an image of getting erotic with a woman while watching a scary movie. The song “Homesick” features the passionate verse:

I like the way you soothe me

Each touch got me calling out for the

Tongue, cheek, nip, clit

Take a peak

Then come up for air

Given that the song later states “You got me feeling kind of homesick/So I threw up all over you,” there is something more going on with this song. It isn’t just a romantic encounter, but a deeper study of the self. Why is Mjöll homesick? It’s not entirely clear, but considering that the song goes into even more explicit terms, such as watching their romantic encounter on the screen, it’s a reflection of love that feels sincere, a longing that is just as true as “Hasta La Vista.” 

If there’s any satire to this group, it probably disappeared a long time ago once they realized that they wanted to stick that tongue somewhere besides the cheek.

There are few things that are off-limits with Dream Wife’s music, and that makes it so freeing. Every note on the album may lean closer to pop than punk, but there’s something sweet about Mjöll’s voice, managing to harmonize with a discordant Icelandic charm. It goes for something eerie, like Courtney Barnett on helium, and it becomes an affecting tool in exploring this strange landscape of trying to find a reason to belong. If Dream Wife suffers from anything, it’s the underlying theme of what it means to be a fake girl band, and what they can do to become something real.

“Validation” has one of the closest examples of this with a song that explores getting drunk and visiting art exhibits. Nobody there is real, so what validation do they get from fraternizing with these people? It’s an honest question that feels melancholic, incorporating the idea of empty streets and not fitting in as defining features. With that said, this song also features their best opening verse on the whole album, if just for how kooky it all plays:

Drink whiskey, break into a cemetery

Thought it was a cemetery, turns out it wasn't a cemetery

Get arrested in a foreign country

'Cause we thought it was a cemetery

So I guess we walked away free

It’s anticlimactic, and yet it feels like a genuine joke that says something deeper about Dream Wife, who are using every song as a meditation on their own existence. Songs like “U Do U” and “Rh Rn” reflect a welcoming of different perspectives and ideologies, desiring people to do something that felt more substantial to them. For a group that doesn’t “fit in,” they do a good job of making everyone around them feel included in this perverse journey. It’s fall of dry humor and weird observations, all with a sound that doesn’t quite fulfill its pop-punk style. It’s a bit off, but that’s how they would like it. 

This is a journey of acceptance, and it becomes clearest on the final stretch, where the album begins to pick up once again, finding a search for meaning starting to reach a conclusion. With “Old Flame,” Dream Wife explores a relationship that reminds them of the happiness that they used to have. It’s breezing through them. Mjöll’s voice sounds the most blissful here as if the journey has been worth it, and it’s as much an embrace of love as it is self-acceptance.

In one last blast of energy, “So When You Gonna…” takes things a little faster than “Homesick,” removing any nervousness and going for pure carnal delights. The chorus is a bullet in a gun, waiting to be shot as the heat gathers. It’s an amazing experience as she yells “So when you gonna kiss me?” It’s a simple request, but you buy into her lust because it feels so real. It’s amazing to exist in this song, capturing something so full of spontaneity that it captures the band I assumed this would be. They even go out of their way to include clever backing vocals in such a way that it feels anarchic like the bliss is making everyone in the band lose their mind.

With “After the Rain,” the album comes to a close on a tender note, asking what the future will look like. It’s sweet, making you find peace after an album that feels like a wild journey through youthful delights and concerns. Things sound like they’re going to be fine for now, and it’s the perfect place to leave this album. Dream Wife are closer to being a real group after this, though some could argue that they already were based on how well constructed this whole affair was.

As far as quick blasts of fresh air, this is a decent fit. When the album recognizes its potential – especially in the first half – it has this inevitable charm that makes you want to vibe along. There is a joy and fulfillment that escape their slowed-down sound, reflecting something human and endearing about relationships and identities that give us happiness. It may be a bit uneven in the middle, but the fulfillment by the end (and brief running time) makes this a worthwhile endeavor just for its ribald enthusiasm. If only all music was allowed to be this candid, capable of showing a deeper emotion. Maybe things would be more interesting.

For now, I’ll continue to wonder just how real Dream Wife is, and what they want us to take away from their songs. What is sincere and just openly jeering at conventions? I don’t know and I get the sense that it doesn’t actually matter all that much. Just go for the ride and have a good time. That’s probably how they’d like to have it.