Los Angeles band The Dream Syndicate will release their fifth studio album and first album since 1988 ‘How Did I Find Myself Here?’ in September.
In anticipation of the release The Dream Syndicate have released the title song from ‘How Did I Find Myself Here?’ as a preview. The track is an 11 minute epic.
The Dream Syndicate were talked into reforming for a Spanish music festival in 2012. After 50 shows across the US and Europe the band went back to the studio in 2016 to start work in this record.
“[The magic] was there with almost as much ease and grace as the first rehearsal we had three years before in Madrid, despite [longtime bassist] Mark Walton, Dennis Duck and I having not played together for several decades,” says Steve Wynn of the making of How Did I Find Myself Here? “It sounds like everything that I loved about the Dream Syndicate and yet sounds unlike any other record we made.”
The band was a huge influence on R.E.M. and Nirvana. “I always felt that the Dream Syndicate was largely about receiving, carrying and then passing along a torch of the bands that we loved passionately but who didn’t necessarily get the love and attention they deserved, living in the shadows as cult favorites, secret passwords into a society of musical fanaticism and time-delayed impact on generations to come,” he says.
“It’s been one of the great pleasures of my life to play ‘Tell Me When It’s Over’ with Steve over the last few years. The Dream Syndicate version is a perfect distillation of Los Angeles noir and febrile, menacing garage rock,” said Peter Buck of R.E.M.
J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr is also a huge fan. “‘Halloween’ is an eerie number. When the second guitar kicks in I think of a stage covered with fog, Karl stepping to the front of the stage and unashamedly striking a rock pose. It helped me feel alright about playing leads which were so hated at the time. Steve’s more jangly sound also influenced my choice of getting a Fender for my first guitar to start Dinosaur. I wanted to write some songs, strum, then kick in to some fuzz for the lead. It was all there in the Dream Syndicate,” he said.
‘How Did I Find Myself Here?’ the album will be released on September 8.
