New Music: Cathedral Bells – unreal

Los Angeles band Cathedral Bells’ recently released parallel dreams album is chock-full of goodness, with the sunny abstraction of unreal a particular highpoint.

Quietly insistent that thanks to a rhythm section that functions as an organic engine within the song, it proves that Cathedral Bells are among the best exponents of the new wave of California dream pop.

Matthew Messore and bandmates hit an elegantly constructed equilibrium between the pop side of the genre, the power pop adjacent guitar melody weaving itself fully into the fabric of the arrangement. It allows the vocals to levitate over the body of unreal, possessing a stillness that doesn’t fully obscure the life changes that Messore underwent while writing the LP.

Cathedral Bells tour the US this month in support of the long player, with dates scheduled along the American west coast from San Diego to Seattle, and a run of dates in Texas.

parallel dreams is out now via Artoffact Records in vinyl, CD, and digital formats on Bandcamp. You can find ticket and venue details for the tour, plus streaming options for the album, on the band’s TikTok, Facebook and Instagram feeds.