New Music: Van Chamberlain – Fantasy TBD

With the release of their As Far As the Eye Can See album just around the corner, Van Chamberlain adopt an insightful mood on the indie tones of Fantasy TBD.

Anchored by a chorus that is a quiet asserting of independence – “Hey, get off my fantasy; I can make it on my own” – the dream pop and indie arrangement follows a similar route. It’s not muscular; more that it possesses a confidence in itself, one that doesn’t need to be loud to make its voice heard.

If you’ve ever had one of those relationships that was hard to be in but hard to leave behind, you might see yourself in the lyrics. That might make Fantasy TBD a difficult listening experience for some, but if you overcome that, you’ll find comfort in this beautiful piece of indie music.

States Chamberlain, “There was a point where it seemed like everyone around me was going through it at the same time. I didn’t have any of the answers, but I wanted to be a positive force. This is a song about wanting to give the people around you a reason to smile. It’s easy to write a song about what you’re going through. This time I wanted to write a song for everyone else.”

“We felt like a song about breaking free needed to literally sound like breaking free, so we turned the ’67 Vibrolux up to ten and let the breakup of the amp reflect the breakup in the lyrics. This might be the loudest song off the new record, and it also might be the most cathartic.”

Fantasy TBD and previous singles by Van Chamberlain, including The Right Line and Running Through the World, can be heard on Bandcamp and Spotify. For news on As Far as the Eye Can See, make your way to the band’s Instagram feed.

Header image by Rory Shamlain