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Dream a Garden is the second studio album by British producer Jam City. It was released on 24 March 2015 by Night Slugs to positive reviews.

Dream a Garden
Studio album by Jam City
Released	24 March 2015 (2015-03-24)
Recorded	2014–2015
Genre	Electronic dream pop psychedelia
Length	36:33
Label	Night Slugs
Producer	Jam City
Jam City chronology
Classical Curves (2012) Dream a Garden (2015) Pillowland (2020)
Singles from Dream a Garden
"Unhappy" Released: October 2014 "Proud" Released: February 2015

Background

Inspired by the 2011 England riots and the work of bell hooks, Dream a Garden further develops the socio-political conscience of its predecessor, engaging particularly with the effects of neoliberalism.[1][2][3][4] Latham has stated that the album "is about the personal effects of living under capitalism. Why do I feel shit and why do the people I love feel shit when they look at billboards? It was a process of trying to work through those feelings, that culture – what society values that makes you feel like you don’t measure up.”[4] The first single from the album, "Unhappy", critiques corruptive elements of online porn.[5]

The album largely abandons the stark, club-based sound of Latham's debut in favor of a warmer sonic palette characterized by "fuzzed-out beats and washes of reverb-drenched and processed guitar."[4] Latham has described the sound as "not a total break from the world of Classical Curves, but rather an inversion," explaining that "Classical Curves is the surface, Dream a Garden is the exhaustion, frustration, anger, and dizziness underneath.[6] Describing the development of Latham's sound for Clash Music, Will Salmon wrote that "this is still angular, defiantly awkward music, but the diamond-hard production has been replaced with something woozier and stranger. The synths have warped and melted, the beats – when they're there at all – are muffled and subdued."[7] Regarding his decision to sing, Latham stated, “I pushed up against the point where I had to sing. You have to say it and be obvious about it sometimes."[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.3/10[8]
Metacritic	78/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[10]
Clash	7/10[7]
Dummy Mag	8/10[11]
The Guardian	[12]
The Observer	[13]
Pitchfork	6.5/10[14]
Resident Advisor	3.2/5[15]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[16]
Uncut	8/10[17]

Dream a Garden received generally positive reviews from critics. The Guardian described the album as "strange and disorientating, idiosyncratic and frequently astonishing, a modern-day psychedelia that owes almost nothing to that genre’s hackneyed conventions and never forgets to temper the sublimity with darkness".[12] Writing for Clash Music, Will Salmon described the album as "optimistic, romantic and frequently lovely record – a startling and deliberate contrast to its predecessor," and wrote that "the garden in this dream is a place of respite from the frightening truths of our increasingly dystopian, poverty-stricken reality."[7] Despite a relatively positive review, The Wire opined that "Dream a Garden only starts to sound radical when it breaks the bounds of its songforms and an eerie melancholy steals in."[9] The Observer described the album as "a slow, fragmentary work taking cues from drone and post-punk, with Latham’s vocals half-buried in layers of sound," writing that it "aims to create friction, to disrupt the party, even if it doesn’t force its message down your throat."[18]

Track listing

All songs written by Jam City.

Personnel

Adapted from Discogs.[19]

• Jam City – performance, production, mixing
• Alex Sushon – mixing
• Liam Howe – engineer

References

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