Kansas City-based Hembree’s second album, It’s A Dream!, is set for release on February 4  have shared a new taste of the LP by way of “Close To Me.” The track further exemplifies the band’s ability to create a hook-driven, funky song.  The band’s Isaac Flynn shares: “‘Close to Me’ is a song that I had written a few years ago that just kept lingering in my mind. After finishing all the demos for what became, It’s a Dream!, I felt like the record needed a lift and a bit more optimism, so the band and I opened this song up again. It’s a love song through and through with a narrative based in companionship. It’s about devotion to whoever is down to pull you out of the dark, and get you through the strange times and all of life’s struggles — that could be a partner, friend or even your dog. This one’s for the ride or dies.”

Hembree have previously shared the album’s title track, the vibrant “Reach Out,” and the funked-up “Operators.”  It’s a Dream! finds the quintet pushing their established sound—first glimpsed on 2019’s excellent debut House on Fire—to new, colorful zeniths. Possessing a funky looseness and hip-shaking approach that perfectly pairs with Isaac Flynn’s emotionally kaleidoscopic lyrics, It’s a Dream! is a record about getting freaky even while you’re freaking out. It’s a beyond relatable sentiment couched in music that burrows its way into your mind and stays there.

It’s a Dream! Finds the band looking inwards and refining their own sonic approaches while embracing a newfound maturity. The album represents new levels of sonic immersion for Hembree as an artistic entity—practically a window into their creative minds, really, as they explore and incorporate new textures into their rapidly-expanding worldview. “This album is a fully-realized vision for the band,” Flynn explains before offering his own vision of the band’s future: “I want this record to lift people up, and for the music to be a positive experience in their own lives.” Recording took place in Burbank, CA and the band enlisted co-producer e.hillman and engineers Chris Kaysch and Jasmine Chen to help them complete It’s a Dream!  

Photo Courtesy: Jonny Marlow