Dream of a Man in a Top Hat “The Destination”
“In a jumble of thoughts, you can sometimes catch a glimpse (it’s unclear) of something.” — Dream of a Man in a Top Hat “The Destination.”
There are many ways to describe Dream of a Man in a Top Hat’s latest release. On the surface, the song sounds like an introspective nightmare in a wonderland of swirling madness. If you get deeper, you’ll hear a retro fusion of distorted nostalgia. From there, if you put it on repeat, you’ll hear a painting that drifted in all direction until it has become an obscure impression of something you could and couldn’t recognize—an unclear, non-linear representation of a complex experience. Perhaps that’s more keen to the feelings and aesthetic of “The Destination.”
The music duo, Dream of a Man in a Top Hat are no doubt dreamers. They have a very distinctive sound that rips off the pretense of the world and declares who they are. No apologies, no crowd pleasing, no bullshit. They brings to us the maddest dream with warmth and humanly relatable emotions. Stylistically, every song they share has the ability to hit your music sweet spot while throwing you off the tracks with something entirely new. Like two adventurers who are also deep thinkers and psychedelic experts, they deliver the world through a lens of combined familiarity and bizarreness.
“The Destination” is a tune that sort of grows on you. It does take some getting used to if you’re new to Dream of a Man in a Top Hat. Listening to their music is like discovering a hidden door of a new world, a world inside a world. It’s never boring when it comes to their music. “The Destination” is a kaleidoscopic encounter between grunge, experimental, psychedelic, jazz and disco. Drastic, retro guitar riff full of twangs in black distortion. Their rockers’ charm draws you instantly to a different time and place, stirring some nostalgia inside, which soon becomes very addictive.
Things are happening all over the place in “The Destination.” Wherever you look is a scenic intrigue. Dream of Man in a Top Hat manages to paint abstract and impression at the same time. At one point, a modernistic sax stumbled upon this strange world and got lost in their music. Hear from there what it stimulated. From a singular motion, butterfly effects flood in through vivid sonics, stirring a different sight—now you’ve found the key to the hidden world.
Melodies are emotive and stirring, but they are not exactly the way you’d expect them to be. There’s a song hidden below the chaos and commotion, and it’s driving you crazy just to hear it. The treatment here in “The Destination” also reminds you of the experimental aspect of Radiohead.
