Dead Like Harry – Visions of a Dream

Heartland Rock | Americana

65%

 

Sometimes a piece of art needs to find you at the right time for you to properly connect with it. I don’t just mean surface level things like a fun summer anthem feeling more potent on a sunny day, or a break-up record stinging deeper after experiencing your own heartache. Occasionally there’s something a tad more nebulous and hard to pin down at play. An unseen counter yet to tick over, a secret achievement you’ve yet to unlock, an unmarked milestone just out of reach. At some point your perspective will shift, or you’ll have accumulated enough wisdom through all your trips round the sun, to feel something that wasn’t there before. Suddenly you’ll find yourself picking up that book you left unfinished and start devouring it page by page, or wearing out the grooves on a record that had spent years gathering dust. 

I think the same philosophy also applies to making art; it only falls into place when the time is right. You can’t force it, it arrives when it’s good and ready. Sometimes it might take years before you can finally make the project you were always meant to make. In the case of Sheffield based Americana outfit Dead Like Harry, a long 13 years to be precise. During which time, life happened – as it so persistently does. People settled down with families, or moved on to other projects. Never closing the door completely on the band, but conscious of the fact that priorities change, and life gets in the way of all the best laid plans. I think that time apart was absolutely essential for making a record like Visions of a Dream. Re-aligning after a period of growth and reflection, with some new faces and fresh ideas in tow, to lovingly let go of what once was, in order to build something new. 

Visions of a Dream was inspired by a late night drive home from a Springsteen concert, spent reminiscing about their own memories of life on tour. Somehow, even if you didn’t know what sparked this record, I think after enough time spent with it you’d be able to piece together the gist of its origin story. There’s certainly plenty of Springsteen DNA at the heart of the record – in the aptly slow burning folk of ‘Burn It Down’, the dreamy laidback groove of ‘Afterglow’, and most of all in the upbeat heartland rock of ‘Boardwalk Nights’. It’s also plain to see that this record has “late night drive” written all over it. The airy and spacious arrangement of ‘One of a Kind’ evoking empty streets, leaving every crash and rumble of the drums room to reverberate in peace. On the title track and the two part highlight ‘August’ we find Paper Kites style synth work that fluctuates between the quiet hum of neon lights and an expansive 80s vibe that feels like cruising through the world of Tron. On occasion the guitar roars into life to break the reverie, like that one boy racer tearing down quiet roads in the early hours. 

There are a few moments where the band feel a little rusty and unsteady after so long spent leading different lives. The opening vocals on ‘August pt.1’ take a little while to find their stride, and the “light up” refrain on ‘Boardwalk Nights’ outsays its welcome by the end. And while I like the sentiment of ending the record with audio clips of the band’s children on ‘A Kid’s Vision’, as a way of looking forward towards the next generation, the jazzy interlude these clips are attached to feels rather out of place. For the most part however, Dead Like Harry all seem to be on the same page, presenting something that feels comfortingly familiar. Even at its highest peaks, Visions is not an album to set the world on fire – but it is an album with a lot of heart.

Nostalgia is dissolved into every note of this record like sugar in a cup of tea. It’s in the lush 80s synths, in the soft tenderness of the backing vocals, in the way the lyrics reflect and reminisce on times gone by, and it’s especially potent on the bright piano balladry of ‘Burying the Ghosts’. Nostalgia is a comforting warm blanket and a bittersweet farewell all at once. It’s a road, now closed, that led you to where you are now. You can glance back and admire the view, but after that, all that remains is to keep heading forwards. Visions of a Dream feels like a point where a number of those roads meet. Friends and family that have taken different routes to get here, and may well have different destinations ahead, but what matters is savouring this time where their journeys align.