The Arcs - Yours, Dreamily

Yours, Dreamily starts with aching promise. Dan Auerbach – of The Black Keys fame – and a high calibre collaborative of Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon and all-female mariachi band Mariachi Flor de Toloache are quick to turn out the fuzzy charm of this solo project-cum-team experiment. In two weeks of recording the gang have created something of a bustling charisma that shines in places but can struggle to hold up the high bar set by the preceding single releases. Mind you, that is a pretty lofty standard. Considering Auerbach’s previous work on Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence it’s no surprise that this is an album which feels as if it’s being squeezed through a filter, with some retrograding magic at work that’s perfect for the Instagram generation (have a chat about it down the pub to decide if that’s a good or bad thing) and just about manages to not feel intrusive despite its deliberateness. It doesn’t hit as hard as it should – it is, in fact, entirely possible to have lost interest by the time closing track Searching the Blue rolls around – but invest some time and you’ll uncover a record of depth, weirdness and style.