Dream Phone release new single ‘fogo’ - out 1 May on Divine Schism
“It’s perverse pop, each track a sugar rush laced with flashes of illogical brilliance.”
Hard of Hearing magazine
“My new favourite band” Get In Her Ears
Oxford glitch-pop duo Dream Phone release their new single ‘fogo’ on 1 May on independent record label Divine Schism, ahead of their UK tour with Teenage Sequence in May.
‘fogo’ is a staying-in anthem. Rather than the fear of missing out, ‘fogo’ is about the fear of going out - or perhaps more accurately, not worrying about missing out so much and just enjoying the simple pleasure of staying in.
Musically ‘fogo’ sees Dream Phone lean into a poppier, more melodic sound using layers of warm synths, and leaving the guitar behind. It features a playful, jaunty riff that is pure pop, before bursting into big singalong emo choruses worthy of Los Campesinos. Dream Phone's signature pitch-shifted vocals harmonise to tell the story of how they just love to stay home.
About the single, the band say: “‘fogo’ is basically about us not getting as much joy from going out as we used to! What can we say, we’re older and a pandemic changes you. It’s also about the guilt you can feel about seeing your friends less. It’s one of those songs that almost wrote itself – it started with us mucking about on the synth in the rehearsal studio, and coming up with the riff that opens the song. That got stuck in our heads, and everything else came quite naturally from there. We really enjoyed adding harmonies into this one, which we hadn’t done on our first EP. They feature more heavily on our other new songs too – more news on those soon!”
Accompanying the single is a video made by the band’s own Hannah Watts, which plays on the opposing experience of wanting so desperately to go out, but not being able to, calling back to their teens. The duo make their own fun in the park, learn dances, and have sleepovers with fashion shows.
Dream Phone are a glitch-pop duo from Oxford. They began as a pop-punk guitar and drums band, but got bored of that and decided to make synth-driven glitch-pop music instead. Their upbeat, chirpy sound contrasts with the songs’ rather emo subject matters – which variously deal with real life struggles of social anxiety, people-pleasing, being accosted at shows, and lighter topics, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. FFO: 100 gecs, Le Tigre, the B-52s.
Last year they released their debut self-titled EP on Divine Schism, and spread the pitch shifted word across the UK’s underground DIY scene by playing shows with the likes of Me Rex, Fortitude Valley, Chemtrails, Apostille, and Mumbles.
’fogo’ is the first single since Dream Phone’s debut self-titled EP released on Divine Schism last year. Since then, they’ve gained fans such as indie-pop legend Helen Love, who remixed their song ‘Bad Girls’. The band plays an energetic whirlwind of a live show, and have been spreading the pitch shifted word by playing shows with the likes of Me Rex, Fortitude Valley, Chemtrails, Apostille, and Mumbles, as well as at some of the DIY scene’s best festivals and all-dayers, including Newcastle’s Marrapalooza, Oxford’s Oh Community!, Sheffield Pop Weekender, Cambridge Indie Pop All-dayer, and Wales Goes Pop. They have been played on the radio by BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio Oxford.
‘fogo’ is out digitally on 1 May. Dream Phone are on tour with Teenage Sequence during May, playing the following:
Friday 10 May Redrum, Stafford
Saturday 11 May Old Market, Bristol (Deadpunk Special all-dayer)
Sunday 12 May Le Pub, Newport
Monday 13 May The Treehouse, Frome
Wednesday 15 May Common Ground, Oxford
Friday 17 May Micklegate Social, York
Saturday 18 May Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle (Marrapalooza 2)
Dream Phone is:
Hannah Watts (she/her)
Jenny Bell (she/her)
