Peter Dreams - Peter Dreams and MOONRIIVR (2025) [Hi-Res]

For his debut solo album, Peter Dreams trades known quantities for new possibilities, opening a gateway to an alternate sonic reality. The sound of Peter Dreams (solo moniker of Peter Dreimanis from July Talk), in collaboration with MOONRIIVR, is post punk psychic cold plunge that recasts one of the most instantly recognizable voices in alternative rock. Mellow in tempo but undiluted in intensity, Peter Dreams and MOONRIIVR travel on a slipstream of intuition, this is art made for its own reasons.

Following a trail of textured sound, opening song “Do Like I Do,” out today, builds into a trance, a weaving of wires pulled from gritty guitars and low register piano. A sparse kick drum gives away for Black Lodge saxophone and synths, while Peter Dreams contemplates the consequences of passing on flaws to an unborn child.

On this debut album, Peter Dreams’ songs pour out, accessing deep level instinct of the not entirely conscious mind. Collective experience, a vantage of not needing to prove anything to anyone, and a window of opportunity coincide to bring forth a collection of symbolistic solo material that moves across a different soundscape.

Not so much unleashed as it is untangled, the songs on this debut originate in the back pockets of the psyche, set to MOONRIIVR’s decade-hopping concoctions. The lyrics resurface profound events of all sorts – brushes with death, life altering occurrences and other cataclysmic disturbances – the kinds of catastrophes and euphorias that don’t fit comfortably in the everyday front of the mind.

Equal parts inscrutable, vulnerable and dramatic, in its most introspective moments, Peter Dreams and MOONRIIVR travels a similar emotional vein as albums like Skeleton Tree or Titanic Rising. Songs already released from the forthcoming album include, “Keep Me Free,” an easy riding mantra of liberated companionship, and “Come Save Me,” a Stereolab-meets-Ezra Furman strut.