Greensky Bluegrass has shared “Stress Dreams”, the title track from the quintet’s forthcoming eighth studio offering. Stress Dreams, due out on January 21st via Thirty Tigers, will mark the first new studio album from Greensky since All For Money, released in January 2019. “Stress Dreams” follows the release of singles “Absence of Reason“, “Grow Together“, and “Monument“.
The album was born out of 2020’s obstacles as Mike Devol (upright bass/vocals), Paul Hoffman (mandolin/vocals), Dave Bruzza (guitar/vocals), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), and Anders Beck (dobro) recorded individual demos from their respective lockdowns. The title track, “Stress Dreams”, is a sprawling piece penned by Devol. An apt encapsulation of the waves of anxious emotion we all felt throughout 2020, it washes through melodies with a tasteful twang of tension, passing through Floyd-ian clouds of effects and cinematic organ swirls under poignantly vulnerable lyrics.
As Anders Beck noted in a press release, “Not only did Devol write a lyrical epic story of a song, but created the music to match it. So often a writer hits one mark or another, but on this one, Devol got both”
“This sounds like a quarantine song—and it truly became one—but was originally based on a recurring experience,” Mike Devol explained. “I’d have what I began to call stress dreams, in which I’d need to be somewhere, often on stage, but for reasons beyond my control, I was unable to do so: my bass was in my car, the backstage door was locked. Sometimes in the dreams, I would need to text, but my phone wouldn’t type. I’d wake up and just be so relieved to not have to deal with the annoyance of whatever inconvenience I was facing. The song took on a melodrama, though, that I was happy to amplify. My wife walked through the room at one point when I was writing the mandolin solo melody in the middle and literally said, ‘well, that’s dramatic.’ Works for me.”
Listen to “Stress Dreams” and the rest of the available singles from the new Greensky Bluegrass album below via Spotify. Pre-save the album ahead of its January 21st release here.
Greensky Bluegrass – Stress Dreams Singles
Greensky Bluegrass is preparing to head out on tour in support of the new album. The tour will kick off with a pair of performances at Denver, CO’s Mission Ballroom on Friday and Saturday, January 7th and 8th, which will include a special “soundcheck set” to benefit the Colorado communities affected by the recent fires. From there The Infamous Stringdusters will join Greensky as special guests for a 19-date outing beginning on January 20th in Albany, NY and wrappign up on February 25th–26th in Atlanta, GA.
Click below to check out a full list of tour dates. For ticketing details and more information, head to the band’s website.