Dulldrums arrive with the kind of debut that feels like it’s been sitting with them for quite some time.
Formed by married Manchester musicians Matt and Rachel after the end of Mewn, the project strips away the pressure of an all-consuming band setup without sacrificing the ambition. That freedom is all over ‘If I’d Known’, a beautifully woozy introduction to the pair’s self-described “dream folk” world.
At its core, the song began as a folk ballad built around classical guitar, but now, synths blur the edges, a low electronic bass gives the track a more contemporary pulse, and bent electric guitar lines introduce a faint psychedelic unease. The result sits somewhere between the intimacy of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen and the spectral atmosphere of Portishead or The Durutti Column.
The simple percussion gives ‘If I’d Known’ a loose feel, while Rachel’s classical guitar playing anchors the arrangement in something more delicate throughout. Around it, Matt’s synths and guitar textures gradually widen the frame until the song feels much bigger than its original ballad form.
The lyrics circle regret, loss and the uncomfortable consequences of not understanding something until it’s already too late. But the duo never overstate those emotions; instead, they let the melancholy gradually seep into the arrangement.
As a first glimpse of the forthcoming EP, it’s an impressively assured start. Dulldrums may have emerged from the end of another project, but ‘If I’d Known’ feels like the beginning of something freer, stranger and far more personal.