Album Review: Vocal Few’s “The Dream Alive” (EP)

Article by: Jessica Gorrell

Vocal Few, an adorable husband and wife duo, released their first EP since 2013. The Dream Alive is like taking a sweet, soulful, and much needed vacation to a camp site with your best friend and an old 6-string. The album opens with the lilting and slightly melancholic melody of “The Corner Dwellers,” which sets the sweet, innocent and decently soppy tone for the album. “Time,” opening with a tapping beat reminiscent of a ticking clock, shows their ability to mix catchy, heartwarming pop lyrics with a creative and unique vibe.

With its sweet, innocent and fun attitude, the third track of the album, “Take Me Back Again,” opens the door to the soppy, poppy love songs which we all know and, well, love. Straight from the album’s name, the 4^th track “The Dream Alive,” is the upbeat, catchy and all around lighthearted song that invokes those few moments of rogue foot-tapping, humming and swaying. “You’ve Been Written,” a sweet, butterfly inducing duet, is the love song of all folk love songs, filled with saccharine declarations of love and hope for the future. The 6^th and final track on the album, entitled “Blue,” sports a rocking melody similar to that of Sam Smith’s “Good Thing,” and sounds the same way a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night feels – fuzzy, dreamy and comforting at once.

Or maybe that’s just how the entire album feels – warm and fuzzy. Bringing up old happy memories and inspiring the desire to make new ones, The Dream Alive draws comparisons to soothing, soft sounds of Eddie Vedder circa “Into the Wild,” or Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Sweet, but not overly sappy. Innocent, but not childish. This EP really does bring The Dream Alive.

Track Listing:
1. The Corner Dwellers           4. The Dream Alive
2. Time                                       5. You’ve Been Written
3. Take Me Back Again           6. Blue