Soundpool: Dichotomies & Dreamland

NYC shoegazers Soundpool tick off all the standard generic checklist items: steady rhythm, ethereally unintelligible vocals, echoes aplenty, and scapes, scapes, scapes. Drifty and detached, the commingling tracks on Dichotomies & Dreamland threaten constantly to glide away like so many unmoored zeppelins. Lacking both the impeccable polish of dream-pop standard-bearers Blonde Redhead and the melodic guts of Arts & Crafts second-fiddles Young Galaxy, Soundpool floats on over pre-programmed fields of swaying grass circuits, blissfully rudderless. There may well be an intriguing band hidden somewhere behind all of these sound washes, but a tad more structure is necessary to tease it out. Dichotomies & Dreamland is a sharp reminder that to dream, one must first be put to sleep.