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Kramies' newest single, "Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour," presents an intimate and striking departure that somehow sounds touching and calm in equal measure. The second single from his upcoming album of the same name, this song is a wistful heart beating at the center of an artist looking back on his dreamlike passage through sound and story.
Mixed with grace by the revered Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie), the track is luscious and personal, its texture airy and filled with a heavy aura of emotion. Kramies's voice floats like a recollection through a pall of reverb and melody, then gently buoyed by an unmistakable, if discreet, synth signature (by Jason Lytle of Grandaddy) that sends the song pinwheeling off into the cosmos. It's an unassuming touch, but one that fits nicely with Kramies's storytelling and the cosmic heft of the track.
To those following along for years, "Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour" truly feels like the logical conclusion of that first sound Kramies brought forth in The Wooden Heart & Of All The Places Been & Everything The End. Works with artists such as Jason Lytle, Todd Tobias (Guided by Voices), Jerry Becker (Train), and Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) have led to new creative avenues that organically coalesce into a web of dreamy memories and action-provoking melody.
There is a quiet bravery in the way Kramies is saying farewell, not just to a sound but maybe to an earlier version of himself. "Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour" is a constellation of echoes from the past and barely suppressed twinges of possibility, tinged with the bittersweet light of an artist who still nourishes an ability to dream.