Q&A – Dirty Dreamer on their debut album The Everyday In Bloom

How did Dirty Dreamer develop out of your previous band, the Choice Prize-nominated Come On Live Long?

Although Dirty Dreamer is a totally different sound to Come On Live Long, the three of us have a long past of playing together, and that really helped with the approach we were trying to take. The songwriting and composing elements were based on improvisation, and that really benefited from those musical relationships. There’s a level of comfort there. There are days we don’t even talk much – the heads are down and jams go on for hours without much chatting.

What can we expect from your debut album, The Everyday In Bloom?

There’s a wider set of sounds pulled into this work, where before we almost intentionally limited ourselves to a small collection of gear. Some tracks are in a more acoustic space, some still maintain that synth-heavy sound. We’ve also made space for the more ambient side of our work – which is a mode we really enjoy improvising in, but sometimes it gets overlooked when it comes to deciding what goes on an album. So there are some interludes that go to that space, and one or two tracks that seem to move away from song structure into soundscape. That diversity is important to us – to be pushing material or re-configuring it in a way that is more unexpected.

Did lockdown have any impact on the project?

To be honest, it just meant taking a pause but I don’t feel we suffered too much for it. We’re pretty relaxed, and don’t mind things taking as long as they take, so there was no panic or anxiety around it. In a way, there was a positive experience of returning to a project having very fresh ears for it again. That made the last mixing push easier. But we obviously missed meeting once a week at our studio to play together, as that is really what’s most enjoyable for us.

• The Everyday In Bloom is out today. Dirty Dreamer play a headline show at The Workman’s Cellar on June 2.