DREAMKID is the alter ego of South African musician Ryan Morris who has gained a sizeable following through his colourful social media presence.

Following the release of his 2022 self-titled debut on Outland which featured the adrenaline filled instrumental ‘Officewave’, DREAMKID continues the half vocal / half instrumental template on its follow-up ‘Daggers’. Inspired by vintage video games, action movies and the American West Coast to create his own neon lit fantasia, The DREAMKID USP has been using TikTok and Instagram to host POV reels of him doing unlikely synthwave style covers of NIRVANA, METALLICA, SMASHING PUMPKINS and GREEN DAY alongside takes of songs by today’s pop songstresses like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.

As Maurice Ravel once put it: “Whatever sauce you put around the melody is a matter of taste. What is important is the melodic line”. Morris’ flamboyant force of personality has attracted a different and younger audience to synth but can he sustain their interest with full length material of his own making rather than one minute snippets of other people’s songs?

So after a quick ‘Good Morning LA’, the ‘Daggers’ title tune sparkles and pumps along with a processed Trans-Atlantic drawl, synths taking the place of guitars in its various MTV rock inflections. If ‘Daggers’ reflects the daytime, then ‘Chrissy’ is an instrumental that immediately captures the night with bursts of actual guitar in amongst the keys.

A yacht rock duet of hopeful reconciliation with synths, ‘Take Me On Tonight’ features Mason Musso of Emo band METRO STATION, although the impassioned combination of voices won’t be to everyone’s taste. The energetic ‘Alleyway Fistfight’ is highly enjoyable, an excellent instrumental in the vein of ‘Officewave’ with a solid bassline as its backbone. Meanwhile, the inevitable sax bursts into ‘Hard Copy’ for a typical retrowave interlude.

‘She’s Gone’ is not a Hall & Oates cover but DREAMKID musically does as his moniker suggests and although ‘Street Lights’ offers classic synthwave motifs, Ryan Morris’ vocal style has a polarising effect and it’s fair to say it is like Marmite to the ear. But ‘Kids Of The Valley’ is poptastic romp that would make a good theme to a TV series of the same name; it has so much potential that Carly Rae Jepsen really should cover it…

Photo by Marcus Maschwitz

‘Oceanside Homicide’ is clearly influenced by the ‘Top Gun Theme’ but adds some FM-84 resonance for another fine instrumental. ‘The Highway’ offers another classic synthwave instrumental complete with mighty electronic drum fills, bendy solos and percussive rests. The nocturnal drive on ‘The Highway’ ends on the coastline to soothe in the ‘Waves’ before concluding with some heartfelt ‘Hometown Memories’ from deepest childhood.

In true synthwave / retrowave style, the instrumentals come over as the most appealing on ‘Daggers’. At 14 tracks though, the album is a bit long and this may prove to be challenging bearing in mind DREAMKID’s more recent followers having been weaned on minute long reels. But the drive and enthusiasm from Ryan Morris is loud and clear for all to hear and see; DREAMKID has delivered a second album that will not disappoint those who loved his debut.

‘Daggers’ is released by Outland on 31 May 2024 and available to pre-order across all digital music stores as well as physical options on Bandcamp, which include a limited-edition graffiti green vinyl LP and green or black cassettes and digipak CD at https://hypeddit.com/dreamkid/daggers

DREAMKID performs live at Colours in London’s Hoxton Square on Friday 31 May 2024 in an album release show with support from THE LAST CONCORDE – tickets are available from https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/dreamkid-colours-hoxton-tickets/13337853

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
21 May 2024