by Selina Yang (@y_aniles)
Nate Dionne rips nuance out of the mundane, turning it into swirling portraits of bittersweet acceptance. His first solo LP, in 2020 Love Is Always Worth it, displayed his penchant for both grinding punk anthems and lo-fi meditations. Three years later, Fantasy is the latest EP release of the Connecticut-based emo revivalist veteran. Dionne turns musical conventions into personal diary entries, referencing characters and moments only intimately known by the narrator. The past is oppressed with naivety. A bleak economic landscape looms over the narrative, of personal worth now being dictated by futile lottery tickets and faceless hierarchy, rather than family.
Drumming by Pat Conaboy is electric, shifting between walls of cymbal crashes and nimble rhythms. Dionne and Conaboy remember the importance of pacing in generating constant momentum. Tempo shifts in “Delta” and “Drawn On” mimic the feeling of catching your breath, much needed in between the high-stamina shredding of twin tracks “In Blood” and “SWP”. With mixing and mastering by Tim Jordan and Dan Angel, respectively, Fantasy retains the charm of its hazy DIY textures, yet is clear in its musical directions.
“Delta” is immediately catchy in the way that a first love is, its keening guitar lines reaching enchanted highs. Yet, there is a raw edge created by the tension between the guitars and the heavy bass and drums, what Dionne refers to as the baggage that comes from passionless jobs and employee alienation. Dionne croons through molasses, cradling memories of a simpler summer before dreams became too big: “I don’t need those lovely treats / Just Lauren in the driver’s seat”. By the end, the initial instrumental fervor mellows into a slow dance, letting Dionne’s vocals rise out of the mix in melodic clarity. No more distractions from the ache in his voice.
Dionne doesn’t avoid sarcastic jabs at capitalistic mentalities. In “Drawn On,” a neighborhood is reduced to its price tags, rather than the lives that go on there. Rather than lamenting the emptiness of a corporate job as in “Delta,” the closing track “Fantasy” has Dionne embracing his duty as a friend, lover, and family member, with unquestioning confidence. With stripped down, fluttering synths, the EP switches scenes from highway drives, to a party’s quiet aftermath. There is joy in cleaning up after a dinner party, because it means that raucous laughter filled the house just hours ago. Dionne comforts a conscientious friend when he sings: “No really it’s nothing / I’m just happy that you’re here with me”.
The Fantasy EP is not about a naive escape from reality, but for a hopeful but seemingly impossible world where self worth can be derived from relationships to others, rather than to have one’s identity plagued by corporate powerlessness. Memories are relived, with the crisp poeticism of someone who constantly soaks in them. Dionne asks the central question in the middle of “Drawn On,” positioned after a staticky guitar break: “How do you collect something the market can’t control”? To which Fantasy shows us is that it's never too late to seek freedom through loving those who loved us.