Ball Park Music’s consistency with dropping albums that are gradually differentiating from each record they produce has kept them at a good pace with long time devoted fans. Their constant switch between different styles and textures of each album while maintaining their indie-rock song writing has allowed the Brisbane quintet to distance themselves from their old sound while exploring further into unknown waters; and their latest album ‘Every Night The Same Dream’ is the physical manifestation of successful experimentation and consistency.
The shifting dependency from folk laced tracks evident within their first two albums to this fourth record that sees the quintet’s evolution into a growing indie-rock band shows how the evolutionary track for any artist and band alike is necessary in order to create something that is unexpected and worthy of appraisal. Ball Park Music’s deviation away from their old sound into a heavier, distorted laced tracks has allowed the diversification necessary for this fourth album to take on a life of its own; something quite different in Ball Park Music’s body of work.
The opening track of the new album, ‘Feelings’ is the perfect introduction to the new evolved Ball Park Music. Doused with the infectious lyrics of Sam Cromack with the BPM-tone drowned with heavily distorted sound and lingering extra effects, the production of ‘Every Night The Same Dream’ from start to finish, is damn near perfect. The first half of the album is drowned with extremely granular riffs, heavily distorted instruments and a sense of elevated ambition; non more so evident within the monolithic jam of ‘Pariah’. The fourth track, ‘Pariah’ shifts the direction of the album into a completely different world dominated by percussive breakdown, twisted notes and an excess of effects layered behind the experimental music scenery. However, this moment of unpredictability doesn’t last forever and Ball Park Music are once again back into the new and evolved sound within ‘Nihilist Party Anthem’ injected with guitar riffs fluidly mixing with synthesiser notes that builds an electric energy that can only come from 5 people coming together and finding their rhythm.
The second half of the album is a whole new level completely. A sense of mellowness and laid-back atmosphere is achieved in the second half of the album, although nevertheless still stubborn with its sense of experimentation. ‘Peppy’ is reminiscent of the typical Ball Park Music atmosphere but with a fresher, and cleaner nuance. The melodic hook and sense of peace within ‘Leef’ provides listeners with the necessary break between the hard hitting tracks that the album projects; while this is the new direction in which the band has chosen, the melodious nature of ‘Leef’ maintains the link of sound between BPM’s past and the new future. The introduction of ‘Leef’ in the second half of the album gives way for the rest of the album to unwind into the hypnotic guitar lines and beautifully deconstructed harmonies strategically placed into each individual song. The decline of energy from the first half to the second half of the album inevitable places listeners on a journey where BPM manipulates the energy while listeners are placed under the trance of this new material.
Ball Park Music’s gradual move away from their first few records and experiment like they did with this fourth record is something to be quite proud of. ‘Every Night The Same Dream’s’ ability to introduce new sound while maintaining some link to the past shows the great ambition and experimentation the quintet has allowed themselves to create and explore. While this record reaches its unsentimental finish, it begs anyone to play it from the start and enjoy it over and over again.
Rating: ★★★★
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