Review: Cannons - Fever Dream
Cannons
Fever Dream
On their third record ‘Fever Dream’, LA Synthpop trio Cannons perfect their blend of psychedelic bliss
CANNONS, which comprises of Michelle Joy alongside guitarist Ryan Clapham and keyboardist & drummer Paul Davis, has flourished during the pandemic. ‘Fever Dream’ marks the LA Synthpop trio’s first record since signing to Columbia Records and feels like the perfect encapsulation of everything they’ve been working towards on previous releases.
From the opening moments of ‘Come Alive’, you’re swept up in a breeze of smooth synths. Joy’s vocals float across the intoxicatingly funky bass line. Fittingly titled ‘Fever Dream’, the album is full of these blissed-out moments where you feel awash in a psychedelic haze across its eleven-track runtime.
There’s a selection of standout moments across the record. With its whistle-led refrain ‘Hurricane’ excels, its funk-rock guitar lures you to the dancefloor. ‘Tunnel of You’ evokes the legendary ‘Wicked Game’ by Chris Issak with its spacious and transient acoustic underlying melody, Joy ‘oooohs’ hauntingly across the track's chorus. ‘Bad Dream’ has unsurprisingly dominated alternative rock airplay in America, the cinematic single pulsates and transports you to a late-night Blade Runner Esque skyscape in your mind. ‘Purple Sun’ has a slow-jam, reggae style percussion beat in which Joy’s vocals drip across like honey, it’s a surprising shift in tempo for the trio and feels destined to enrapture audiences when performed live.
The group's sound is a call back to the days of peace and love in the Californian sun. Very rarely does an album reflect a location or time period so perfectly. When I play tracks such as ‘Come Alive’ or ‘Ruthless’ I feel myself yearning to be back on the Indio Highway playing the album loud across the desert sound. CANNONS manage to combine that timeless breezy summer acoustic instrumentation that defined the 60s with the modern forward-thinking synth-electronica of the 80s. It results in a trippy, almost haze-like euphoria.