It can either pull you into its fascinating details, stirring enough to stick with you for quite some time. Or it just washes over you, where hazy moments can be observed, but feel like there’s not much to glean at the end of it all. Sassy 009’s newest project, Dreamer+, falls under both edges. Carrying an intriguingly amorphous character to its soundscapes, yet simultaneously never fully embracing its capabilities. Take the meditative, atmospheric rock of “Tell Me”. Its moody presentation and Sunniva Lindgård’s airy singing eventually bring Blood Orange into the fray. His voice nestles well within the song’s atmosphere, yet the track just ends there, like a faint breeze that glides across. Its impact is never fully felt.
For her past few projects, Sassy 009 has been experimenting with atmospheres that initially appear blurry, only to find their stride with repeated listens. Dreamer+ takes it even further, applying 90s alternative and various electronic influences, then twisting them around, all tied by a concept of wandering in a dream that carries a different reality and aims to find peace and belonging in it. This synthesised atmosphere gets to show off effectively from time to time. “My Candle” employs revving guitars and organic breakbeats that steer to a tumbling motion, emphasising an assurance against her solitary emotions. The weighty and buzzy instrumental textures across “Enemy” and “Someone” pair well with their infectious hooks. The former song, especially, is a highlight for this, transitioning from walls of synths to this looping staccato hook: “Are you an enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy, enemy” This repeats a few times over, effectively cutting through with the synth groove bouncing underneath.
“Sleepwalker’s Pendulum” hits Sunniva’s sonic experimentation differently. Melodies gently pace amidst rumbling bass notes, light guitar strums, and sifting drums. Her voice, alongside subtle assistance from BEA1991, cuts through as she contemplates a connection that she had purposely left behind. “Liquid following my steps / Yeah I'm so ready for a change / Tell me you're the change”, she reflects with her sombre voice. She sounds like she’s drifting by, yet she doesn’t fade away in that emotional shuffle.
On the flipside, the album suffers from getting lost in all that fog. Melodies tend to wander around rather than spark, a case that happens through the confused melodic venture of “Edges”, or the meandering structures of “Dreamer” and “In The Snow”. Outside of its consistent mixing quality, “Mirrors” featuring Yune Pinku, is an exception. Its whirring soundscapes distractingly blast off, making the booming bass and chalky drums sound overwhelmingly piercing and unflattering around Sunniva’s softer singing.
Nevertheless, Dreamer+ starts a new path for Sassy 009, finding both glories and pains along the way. In experimenting with various sonic tapestries paired with a conceptual thematic essence, she ends up hitting effective compositions in some moments and awkwardly stumbling on others. It’s a dream that might gradually fade in and out of the mind, but when it does clear out the misty blur, some moments end up potent.
