Pale Dream – Velvet

Pale Dream are an indie rock duo based in southern Utah. Comprised of childhood friends Trey Hoskins and Mari Ericksen, they formed in December 2019 and began to release music in February 2020.

For such a young band, this is an incredibly accomplished track. Over five minutes long, ‘Velvet’ definitely comprises multiple complex sections, including the false outro which is employed before the final chorus. This is definitely more common of older tracks than more modern ones, but it was extremely refreshing to see such experimentation within a genre where too often, music can sound very similar. It’s both meandering and carefree in tone – indeed, on their Soundcloud, they say that it’s a track to ‘dance to, bang your head to, throw it in the background’. My eyes were closed and I was picturing myself in a park on a hot sunny day.

‘Velvet’ also has quite an amusing backstory, which helps to bring out the clear personality that Pale Dream has. Trey says: “This song was about an old friend of mine who had a crazy obsession with velvet, which in turn made me fall in love with velvet. She happened to be one of the most beautiful people I knew, and I always joked about writing a song about her. So I did. A song that started out as kind of a joke, and slowly progressed into something that changed the sound of our entire band. It was the first time we had ever played anything we could actually rock out to, and it has become one of my favorite songs I personally have ever written.”

Ryan Powell