josh becker - in dreams

Josh Becker

In Dreams
self-released; 2013


3.6 out of 5


By Eva Cantillo

Playful and creative artist Josh Becker brings us this collection of wavy pop music. The songs on the album are all very spacey and have an ethereal effect to them. The young musician is from New Jersey and has recently started putting his creations into recordings, all of which he managed to do himself from his bedroom.

The first song on the album “Lake Superior” has a fun tick-tock beat in the background that grounds the very spacey and epic-like effects and chords. There are some pleasing vocals as well, but the musician admits that he himself doesn’t use a microphone and uses only the audio recorder on his laptop. This is apparent as the sound of the vocal quality is a bit muddy and can get lost in the background. The rest of the sound quality is notable; there are many different effects used and quite a bit of layering which keeps the listening interesting.

“In Binary” is a song with a bit of a more somber appeal, the vocals on the track really direct the feeling of the song; they are very appealing as it creates a sentiment of velvety emotions that are just draped over the beats in the background. The piano chords are stretched out giving it a dramatic edge.  The next song, “You Say” begins with a funky electronic effect. All of the sounds of this song are all very different yet they manage to compliment each other at the same time. Yet here, the vocal quality is very poor and it is quite difficult to grasp the lyrics.

Despite the quality of the vocals, this is a creative and pleasant album to listen to. There is an elevated feeling to each song that kind of reminds me of bands like Air and Metronomy. Each song has been meticulously layered and there is success in the overall sound. Perhaps investing in a microphone would really give these spacey songs due justice.

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