San Francisco’s Analog Dream has released its new EP The Shape Of Us via Soundvsystem Records, bringing the band’s layered, guitar-heavy sound into sharper focus.
Originally founded as a two-piece by Jorge Sandoval and Rich Cannon, Analog Dream has since expanded into a five-member lineup with drummer Caleb Dolister, synth player Kevin Fayle and bassist Sarah Reinke. That growth can be heard throughout the group’s recent material, where shoegaze haze, indie-rock grit and post-rock dynamics collide without being forced into conventional shapes.
Among the EP’s standout tracks is “Velvet Knives,” a winding meditation on betrayal and the damage caused by deception from someone close. Rather than following a straightforward rock structure, the track moves through shifting instrumental passages, with electric guitar and drums playing off one another beneath Sandoval’s commanding vocals. Its emotional arc gradually turns from vulnerability toward reclamation, mirroring a narrator beginning to recognize and recover their own power.
“Velvet Knives” followed earlier singles “Dystopian” and “The Shape of Us,” both of which helped build momentum toward the completed release. “Dystopian” reached No. 6 on the MMD Top Singles chart, while the band’s recent music has also picked up radio support across a number of independent and college stations.
Across The Shape Of Us, Analog Dream balances the enveloping atmosphere associated with shoegaze against a more immediate alternative-rock backbone. The result is music that can feel expansive and dreamlike one moment before snapping into something considerably more muscular the next.
With its lineup expanded and its sonic identity becoming increasingly ambitious, The Shape Of Us captures Analog Dream as a band pushing beyond its original studio-project roots and into something bigger, louder and more immersive.
