Power of Dreams: Ausländer review – deft creative touch returns

Bands arrive, bands disappear, bands return. So it is with Dublin’s Power of Dreams. They formed as a trio in 1988, released their debut EP (A Little Piece of God) on Irish-friendly Setanta Records, and then signed to major label Polydor in 1990. Two albums later, they were dropped and by 1995 the bubble had well and truly burst.

With Whipping Boy, another Irish band, gearing up for a reissue of their 1995 second album, Heartworm, it is surely a case of why-ever-not when it comes to Power of Dreams. Ausländer is their first album since 1994’s Become Yourself, and it’s clear that in the interim period neither a deft creative touch nor commitment to quality have gone AWOL. The ringleader is still Craig Walker, now Berlin-based but with a sensibility informed as much by reflective pop as the rush of guitars. That there is more of the former than the latter might be no surprise – years have passed, after all.

Such a healthy admission is writ large across songs such as Across the Shannon (“I will look at you and everything will be okay”), Give Love a Chance (“Funny how fast time slips by”), Best Days (“Let’s have the best days before the best days are gone”) and America (“the pursuit of happiness is a trap”).

Bands come, bands go? Of course they do, but in PoD we continue to trust.

[ powerofdreams.bandcamp.com ]