Dream State run us through the rebooted line-up’s new release, ‘Untethered’

Dream State have just dropped their new EP 'Untethered', the first since they made their line-up switch. Coming ahead of a UK run kicking off later this month, we got the band to run us through the new release and tell us all the most interesting stuff we needed to know.

As the band were unable to tour or do much else due to the pandemic and lockdown in 2020/2021, Aled began writing a lot of new music. The freedom of time meant that new genres and sounds could be explored and played around with, which will be teased in our upcoming EP ‘Untethered’ and even more so in new music following that. There are going to be some songs that are heavily inspired by electronic music and others that will be very guitar-driven, full of hard-driven riffs, which came to be due to the frustration of being stuck in lockdown, unable to play live and tour. It’s all very exciting, and we can’t wait until people get to hear it all!

The three tracks on this EP are the first three tracks that we all collectively started working on. Aled had already written so many demos, so we picked these three to begin with as they naturally felt like the next evolutionary step from previously released music. The original plan was to just release three stand-alone singles so we could get music out to fans quicker, but as we progressed with writing lyrics, we began to notice a theme between the songs, so it naturally made sense to us to release these three tracks as one body of work. The EP also gives us more freedom to experiment with new sounds and directions that we haven’t tried before. Whilst we’ve played around with electronic elements on the album Primrose Path, those were subtle, whilst on this EP, they have become a much more prominent feature and feel like a natural progression and evolution from previous songs. We’ve already got a rough idea on the next bunch of songs we will be releasing, and ‘Untethered’ feels like the next perfect step towards those.

Inspired by the way BMTH wrote their EP, we did a lot of the writing for our EP remotely via Facetime and a plugin called Audiomovers, which basically lets us see each other and hear the writing session from our homes. With the guys living spread out across South Wales and Jessie living in Birmingham, remote writing meant that we could “virtually” get together often to write, without having to travel. We used these technologies to break apart the music, work on melodies and write lyrics on a collaborative document using Google Docs, so we could work on them together in real-time. We did most of the work this way, which meant that when we actually did get together in real life, we only had to iron out a few small bits before hitting the studio.

We recorded these songs with Oz Craggs at Hidden Track Studios in Folkestone. As we kinda left it until the last minute, it meant we had to record each track separately over three different sessions due to availability. We recorded the first single ‘Taunt Me’ back in September, ‘Comfort In Chaos’ was recorded a week after the release of ‘Taunt Me’ in October, and the third track (yet to be released) we recorded in November. It meant a lot of back and forth going to Folkestone (which is really far away!), but it was worth it in the end.

Jessie has released so much emotion and pent-up anger into these songs. From haunting feelings within her soul, her insecurities, and the split-second chaotic choices she’s experienced. She’s learned the hard way that not everyone that is nice to you is your friend. she had been angry for so long, which sunk her into the darkest place she’s ever been. she had become the worst version of herself. It wasn’t until recent years that Jessie felt so much growth, and today she feels mentally stronger than ever. It wasn’t until during the pandemic when Jessie was furloughed for six months that she fell back in love with writing lyrics and melodies, which gave her the opportunity to write all these emotions into music. The songs on this EP are an encapsulation of those emotions and are about letting go of her previous struggles, untethering her from a bad version of herself.

Towards the end of 2021, Dream State at the time (CJ, Aled and Rhys) were looking to recruit a new drummer and bassist, and the band had their eye on Tom and Jake, who were briefly in the band before Rhys and CJ left. It wasn’t until earlier this year, in March, that we found Jessie to complete the new line-up for the band. We knew that keeping the band going would be met with mixed reactions, but we’re doing this to keep the music alive, both for ourselves and for the fans out there who still want to see the music live and hear new music. We understand that it won’t be for everyone, and that’s ok, but at least the choice is still there for the fans who still wish to continue their journey with Dream State.