Hearing the opening instrumental of Dream Pictures, ‘Fly in My Wine’ might be jarring to anyone who goes into the sixth album from Andrew Combs expecting his usual blend of rootsy country and folk. It sets the tone through its strangeness and otherworldliness, but it’s more to bring the listener into the emotional core of this album. Maybe the rest of the album isn’t that much of a step change, but the influence of this experimentation is heard in every tiny detail.
‘Eventide’ leads us into more familiar territory, still a subtle touch to every lyric that’s sung by Andrew, but musically it’s a song that teases out bit by bit more for the listener. It’s a song that took me a few goes around to start to fully unpick, which feels like the general feeling I had when diving into this record for the first few times. I love the steel guitar on ‘Point Across’ that gives way for a more psychedelic twang of a sound in the closing moments.
This is a delicate and intimate sounding album, piano lines ring clear, the tone of his voice sounding so effortless on ‘Heavy the Heart’, but this is a deceptively ambitious album in the scale of the soundscape he’s creating. It’s tracks like this or ‘I’m Fine’ where the musicality and instrumentation really shines. There’s a dreaminess to the way the album has been produced too that makes it so intriguing for the listener. There’s a moment near the end of ‘Heavy the Heart’ where Combs’ vocals seem to disappear into the ether for a brief moment, like the song was recorded in an alternate reality. For such a seemingly simple set of songs the weirdness of moments like this is a thrill even for a casual listener.
I love the really delicate moments too, ‘Your Eyes and Me’ in particular feels like a central standout moment for me, while ‘Mary Gold’ captures that same easy 70s breeziness that the best songs from the last few Kacey Musgraves albums do. This is so clearly an album from musicians that feel more than at home in their craft.
That said I did find myself at times wishing for a bit more from these glimpses of daring weirdness, the album settles into a rhythm for a while of bluesy country ballads. ‘To Love’ is the one time that the album is truly surprising in its second half. It stands out a lot on Dream Pictures, full of skuzzy guitar and produced with this haziness that’s super engaging. It’s such a change for the record that it made me wish a few more moments like this happened throughout the album. It feels mean putting an album down because I wanted more of something it did, but each listen I’d be left wishing it was all a bit more like ‘To Love’.
Dream Pictures captures this dreamy quality throughout that’s hard to not find engaging and intriguing as a listener. I found that every time through the album I’d be hearing more delicate details on each of the songs. The psychedelic weirdness is the direction that Andrew Combs should absolutely be heading in, and this album is a great way to start that transformation.
Words by Sam Atkins
Picky Bastards 
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