Like the letters that inhabit the official video for Gracie Martin’s new single Dreams Die there is a delightful pieced together quality to the track. It begins like a song heard on the breeze as if it had come from a passing daydream and then a pause where the vocal soars over a wub-wub lifted from a drum and bass track. There are many pauses in the track that act like stops on a journey that allows more musical passengers to get on to the carriage: the clickety-clack of a tap-dancing cloud, a plucked instrument, a choir of Gracie Martins, the caress of a violin and the coup de gras: swelling sections of beautifully arranged horns.
The silver thread running through Dreams Die is the effortless warmth of Gracie Martin’s sublime voice which is a North Star burning brightly in a dream where we can fly above the clouds. The press release talks about the song as “the romantic irony of longing for the feeling of longing” and the song has a woozy quality which made me ache to hear the song while I listening to it and I had the feeling of travelling backwards and forwards at the same time. It’s as gentle as a security blanket and as mesmeric as a hypnotist’s pocket watch. Such wonderment is rare so I welcome the chance to sleep: perchance to dream.
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Review by Paul F Cook
Lyrics:
I’ve been in transit in my dreams, waiting for the train in my sleep,
And I don’t know where it’s going. no one’s got the plan nobody’s holding my hand
Oh I know that I’m alone now, and they don’t really warn you
That ooh all your dreams die, ooh when they come true
Oh, I miss all the ways that I used to dream of you
Oh, I miss all the ways that I used to dream of you
Ooh, that was my room, ooh then there was you
Like you were photoshop, like I just cut you out
Tape you to the wall like I was 13
Writing the fanfic, making it perfect
Waking up for school just to go back to sleep
So now I’m in transit in my dreams, making the commute and making it for you
I gotta make myself happy, i can’t make a man make the sun shine on me
Oh, I know that I’m just grown now, and everyone is smiling
Like ooh all your dreams die, ooh when they come true
Oh, I miss all the ways that I used to dream of you
Oh, I miss all the ways that I used to dream of you
Ooh that was my room, ooh then there was you
Like you were photoshop, like I just cut you out
Tape you to the wall like I was 13
Writing the fanfic, making it perfect
Waking up for school just to go back to sleep
Ooh, do your dreams die, ooh when they come true
Copyright Gracie Martin Music 2021 / Lyrics and Music by Gracie Martin Production and engineering by Robby Webb and featuring Rick Rein on horns, Evan Raines on violin