DREAM SYNDICATE - How Did I Find Myself Here?

"...The new Dream Syndicate record, How Did I Find Myself Here?, doesn’t sound like any of the old Dream Syndicate records, which is something that can be said, actually, of each of the previous Dream Syndicate records. Does 1988’s Ghost Stories really sound like the same band (or half that original band) that had made Days of Wine & Roses in 1982? Nope. Should both be called “Dream Syndicate records”? Absolutely. The current Dream Syndicate lineup features three of the four members who recorded that last studio album: Wynn, drummer Dennis Duck, and bassist Mark Walton. As he has since the Dream Syndicate’s 2012 reformation as a touring unit, Jason Victor (Wynn’s longtime partner in Miracle 3) has replaced Paul Cutler on guitar. With three years of touring under their belts, including two 2014 Atlanta performances featuring both Days of Wine & Roses and The Medicine Show played in sequence, this group was tight and possibly more cohesive when entering the studio than any unit previously recording under the name. 

How Did I Find Myself Here? sure sounds like it: confident and playful, amped up and in sync. Each of the album’s eight songs is unique unto itself, yet all flow together into a cohesive set. The album sounds a bit like the ‘90s bands that Dream Syndicate influenced, a joyful immersion into collective melodic noise. Few units can soar, grind, and spasm in the ways Dream Syndicate has always been able to conjure at will. “Filter Me Through You” opens the album with an explosion of full-on aggression, all players on hand in a classic song of heartbreak and perseverance. Wynn has always been a great pop songwriter, and this is one of his strongest. So, too, is “Glide”, with its soaring chorus of “I just glide / I may never get higher / I don’t have to come down.” The song, possibly a comment on expectations, both those he set for himself and those imposed by others, is as uplifting as the washes of Wynn and Victor’s paired guitar drones..." - Pop Matters