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Neva Dinova strikes back
New album dreamy, but not a dream
By Dan Oberbruner
The overall feel and flow of the album is very nonlinear and sadly the whole thing would have benefited greatly from extended attention to its sonic progression.
“You May Already Be Dreaming” marks the third full length release for the Omaha band Neva Dinova. After a three year hiatus Jake Bellows and the rest of the band, including Heath Koontz, Roger Lewis, Mike Kratky and Tim Haes, return with an album representative of the scattered state of dreams with a soulful flair that emotes their trademark brand of nonchalant, though troubled, sincerity.
Stylistically, “Dreaming” is not a marked departure from much of their previous material; rather, it’s a release of stylistic experiments in various familiar veins. This makes for an album that’s lyrically thematic but lacks sonic and structural cohesiveness.
The album clocks in at just over 40 minutes, and with 14 tracks that rarely exceed the three minute mark, there’s a sense of randomness to the whole thing. The overall feel and flow of the album is very nonlinear and sadly, the whole thing would have benefited greatly from extended attention to its sonic progression.
Taken individually though, the songs on “Dreaming” are really some of the band’s best. “Squirrels” is far and away the most “fun” song in their catalog. It’s upbeat, the lyrics are both silly and poignant, and it has the only “underwater scene” that I’ve ever heard on a record.
“Clouds” is more reminiscent of the bands previous work. The layered, fuzzy, distorted guitar which was once the bands trademark signature is really effective here. It’s lumbering and slow but still somehow still sounds intense and explosive. Mid-tempo alt-country numbers such as “Will the Ladies Send You Flowers” get dipped in reverb and provide the perfect palette for Bellows’ soulful and melancholy voice.
The strongest sense of cohesiveness comes from the lyrical content which concerns heartache, technology, drugs, and Bellows’ progressively morbid humor.
In the brief but excellent “Funeral Home,” Bellows sings, “Got my jacket on, got my suit on, I’m going down to the funeral home / ‘Cause there’s a lady there, and she’s waiting, wants to see me get my drink on.”
This is fairly representative of the lyrical theme of the album. In fact, at least five of the fourteen tracks at least hint at a deceased lover.
That’s not to say that the album is depressing, because it’s not. It’s just heavily concerned with depressing content which is addressed in alternately playful and melancholy ways.
“You May Already Be Dreaming” couldn’t have been released at a better time. As spring gets underway, the songs here provide the perfect soundtrack to both days out and nights under the stars. For all its shortcomings, there is really a lot to love here and it would be a mistake to pass this album up.
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