Sophia Michaels
The Dream Syndicate will release their third studio album in four years this spring with The Universe Inside, the Paisley Underground pioneers’ exploration of krautrock and electric jazz.
Ahead of The Universe Inside’s April 10th arrival, the band shared first “single” “The Regulator” and its video, a 20-minute “psychedelic journey through New York City, equal parts panoramic, psychedelic, somnambulistic and political,” the band said.
Along with founding singer and guitarist Steve Wynn, the current Dream Syndicate lineup features founding drummer Dennis Duck, bassist Mark Walton, guitarist Jason Victor and keyboardist Chris Cacavas, plus guests like the Long Ryders’ Stephen McCarthy, who contributes electric sitar on “The Regulator.”
‘”The Regulator’ is a microcosm of the entire record — it was just a formless, trippy mass as we all started playing together,” Wynn said of the song in a statement. “There was an early Seventies drum machine — a Maestro Rhythm King, the same model used on ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On’ — with Dennis locking in and setting the pace. Stephen grabbed an electric sitar because it was the first thing he saw. Jason and I were kicking pedals on like lab monkeys in a laboratory and Mark was a lightning rod, uniting all of those elements into one tough groove. I collected a list of random, unconnected lyric ideas that I kept on my phone. I tried them all out in random order in my home studio just to see how they would feel and that one-take test run is the vocal you hear! There’s just so much lightning-in-a-jar, first take excitement on this record.”
The Universe Inside — the reunited Dream Syndicate’s quick follow-up to 2017’s How Did I Find Myself Here? and 2019’s These Times, the band’s first albums since 1988 — is available to preorder now. The album was largely improvised and recorded during an 80-minute studio session. “All we added was air,” Wynn said.
In support of The Universe Inside, the Dream Syndicate have booked showcases at the 2020 SXSW.
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