New Music: Miracle Fortress: "Have You Seen in Your Dreams"
When Montreal's Graham Van Pelt isn't thinking about Think About Life, he's recording sunny one-man productions (quick, who can type "Brian Wilson" fastest?) for his other project, Miracle Fortress. "Have You Seen in Your Dreams" comes from Miracle Fortress debut Five Roses, out on Secret City, and it illustrates that the early Beach Boys comparisons mostly relate to Van Pelt's fascination with pop production, which he shares with Wilson and many others. The song pairs a brittle, Walkmen-like guitar drone with one-note bass befitting his other band's dance-pop, while electronic squiggles and Postal Service beats poke against Van Pelt's layered, wistful vocals. The key moment is when Mr. Miracle Fortress lets one of his multi-part harmonies extend longer than humanly possibly thanks to the miracle of looping. "Have You Seen in Your Dreams" might not break your heart like the Beach Boys or blow your mind like fellow Wilson acolyte Panda Bear, but as studio symphonies go it's teenage and kinda pretty.
[from Five Roses; out now on Secret City]