ALBUM REVIEW: Band Of Holy Joy – Dreams Take Flight

Tiny Global Productions

Released: 14.05.21

When things take a turn for the dreadful, at least there’s a whole new set of emotions for Johny Brown to articulate for us. Dreams Take Flight was recorded under lockdown and there’s an extra level of anxiety to these songs, alongside Brown’s eternal concerns – the wonder and futility of love, the desperation and beauty in the prosaic, the power of art and music.

Musically, the album operates in familiar territory – a kind of lush, cinematic indie – but the arrangements seem a little more ambitious (Andy Diagram’s trumpet and Sukie Smith’s vocals stand out) and the band seem reinvigorated. Between the opening Ballardian horrors of This Is The Festival Scene and the reflective closer A New Clear Vision, there’s a lot of magic here.