NYC power-popgaze band Heaven delves into their rich and captivating third album ‘Dream Aloud,’ an independently crafted sonic exploration of love, loss, and lucid dreaming.
Stream: “Dream Aloud” – Heaven
‘Dream Aloud’ opens with a jarring effect: Two sharp drum beats quickly followed by a wave of reverb-laden guitars that crash down like a heavy, shoegazy layer of sound. It's disorienting in a delightful way — an immediate plunge into a dense sonic fog. Then the vocals arrive: Heavy, mesmerizing, and intimate, Matt Sumrow sings, “I’ll let you in… I’ll let you in, just like always.” It’s an enchanting invitation — not only into the album, but into Heaven’s realm: A space as filled with smoldering sound as it is with evocative, raw emotion.
Heaven’s music possesses a dreamlike quality that feels both timeless and transporting — each song seems to emerge from a transitional space between memory and imagination. The NYC-based power-popgaze trio, consisting of Matt Sumrow, Mikey Jones, and bassist Sonia Manalili, has always embraced the textures of shoegaze, psychedelia, and classic rock. However, with ‘Dream Aloud,’ their first LP in seven years, the band fully immerses itself in both atmosphere and emotion. The album showcases shimmering guitar layers and ethereal synths, anchored in genuine sentiment and personal introspection. Primarily recorded at home during the pandemic's isolation, ‘Dream Aloud’ serves not just as an auditory escape; it represents a reclaiming of DIY origins, creative freedom, and the therapeutic essence of music.
For frontman Matt Sumrow, ‘Dream Aloud’ emerged from a moment of calm and crisis — yet from that emerged a vision of hope. “This collection of music was born during the depths of the pandemic, when all we could do was stay at home and focus on projects while watching the unfolding chaos on TV,” he shares with Atwood Magazine. “It was created as a vision of hope and dreams, an escape from the reality we faced.”
“It was also a conscious return to a DIY approach to music-making. Acknowledging the dire apocalyptic situation we were in, you realize that you must depend on yourself to create, to generate art, etc. The previous record was made in studios, where we invested significant money into the project with mixed outcomes. With ‘Dream Aloud,’ the pandemic had commenced, so I concentrated on producing music at home. I enhanced my home studio and was able to complete most of the recordings there.”
Following 2013’s ‘Telepathic Love’ — a lush and ambitious debut that introduced Heaven's characteristic blend of shoegaze and psych-pop — and 2018’s ‘All Love Is Blue,’ a darker follow-up that deepened their affinity for swirling guitars and ambient haze, ‘Dream Aloud’ represents the band's eagerly anticipated third full-length effort. Where earlier albums navigated between dreaminess and dissonance, this latest release stands as a fully realized embodiment of their sound: Focused, layered, and profoundly intentional.
“We believe this record, in contrast to the earlier ones, presents a more succinct statement,” Sumrow explains. “Sonically, it was all recorded together as a cohesive body of work. The writing process was unified as well. The production aligns more with what we envisioned.”
Where previous albums fluctuated between the ethereal and the harsh, ‘Dream Aloud’ establishes its own unique space — one that is both intimate and immersive, yet also expansive. It's not merely a continuation of their sound, but a re-centering of their identity as a band: Self-produced, self-contained, and spiritually open.
When asked to encapsulate the album in three words, Sumrow responds without hesitation: “Sonic. Love. Consciousness.” This phrase aptly describes a record that emanates warmth and presence, even in its most sorrowful moments. ‘Dream Aloud’ encourages not just listening — it invites you to feel, to drift, to exist within its atmosphere.
The title of the album emerged almost instinctively — a moment of creative inspiration rather than calculated thought. “It came up as a lyric in the title track, which had a different name initially,” Sumrow recalls. “I’m not sure where the lyrics originated, almost like they were delivered from elsewhere, but it felt perfect for the album title. Big dreams are worn on our sleeves.”
Highlights abound throughout the journey from the album's lush and enveloping opener “I’ll Let You In” to its emotional conclusion, “A Painted Image.” Along this path, Heaven evokes fever dreams, expansive Western landscapes, romantic desire, and the aches of breakups — all articulated through cascading guitars, mesmerizing rhythms, and shimmering synths. “Spinning Around You,” with its sparkling sounds and hypnotic flow, stands out as
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NYC power-popgaze group Heaven explores the depths of their rich and mesmerizing third album ‘Dream Aloud,’ a handcrafted sonic dreamscape that delves into themes of love, loss, and lucid dreaming.