sonhos tomam conta - hypnagogia (2021)

Sonhos tomam conta is a project created by the Brazilian artist known only as Lua. This is some particularly grim and depressing shoegaze music, probably even blackgaze, though with only a few metal-derived elements throughout the album. But hypnagogia is still moody as hell, it's dreamy as hell and it's also very, very sad.

The project's name translates to "Dreams Take Over" but this is not put in the sweet and ethereal context here. The artist suffers from acute depression and suicidal thoughts are a constant in her life since she was a teenager, and the album reflects that, as she puts it, "this album is about me coming to the realization that I don't have many years left in my life" and "it's just a preparation for a bigger fall into the nothingness that makes me who I am". This all is terrifying enough but then there are also hallucinations she experiences and the album aims to recreate them. The artist's story itself makes me think of some of my favourite musicians like Paragraphs and Eric Howden who struggle and fuel their art works with this struggle.

Everything on the album is kept in dark and dreamy atmosphere. The pace is very slow and the compositions take their time but never really get louder, there's no conclusion and no crescendos. It's all about the sadness in the airy vocals and the channeling of depression that affects the audience from every minute of the release, from the ultimately ambient-pop-like ballads (meu corpo é uma prisão ("My Body Is a Prison")) to the most metal-like tracks (like this tweet isn't funny anymore or my favourite, epic magnum of lonely people in neon cities) The album is a proof for this miserably uplifting conclusion that even the worse that can happen in your life may result in something beautiful.

hypnagogia costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: lonely people in neon cities

Country: Brazil

Genre: depressive blackgaze

Label: Longinus Recordings

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