Ok, look, it's pretty telling that when I absent-mindedly searched for this album to give it a listen for this review, I accidentally typed "Deafheaven" instead. And it's pretty telling that every listen I give to Dreamcrush has at least one moment where I have to remember that I'm not listening to Lonely People With Power. I guess that is to say not only that one's enjoyment of this album is contingent on their enjoyment of Deafheaven but also that there's a level of similarity that is sometimes too close for comfort.
I made the comparison between the two since I reviewed their debut, even calling it "hugely influenced", but even back then I gave it a pass solely due to its undeniable quality. The things is that Møl don't only replicate the elements of Deafheaven's sound but also their immense knack for memorable and impactful songwriting. If the previous album stood out because the original alternative mellowed out, Dreamcrush has to follow-up and compete with an absolute masterpiece. So the fact that a listen to Dreamcrush has moments where I mistake it for Lonely People With Power and doesn't make me want to listen to that instead is actually a testament to how much of an amazing album Dreamcrush is.
So, yes, I give them a pass. I still raise my eyebrow like a disappointed father that is still gonna let you go off the hook. But having spent so much of the review hammering the point that Møl is and isn't really "we have Deafheaven at home", it is worth noting that there are things that keep it from being a carbon copy. Aside from the most obvious thing being that half the lyrics are in Danish, not like the record invites paying attention to lyrics; but it's also that the tone of it is just a tad brighter, not only just in how some of the guitar melodies soar even higher, but how there's a touch of joviality in its performance that makes it feel like the band are enjoying themselves. There's the orchestrally-tinged post-rock first half of "Favour" that feels so concomitantly somber and blissful.
That lightness has moments that push further into non-metal territories. Even instrumentally there are times when there's more of an alt-rock / indie pop feeling, like "A Former Blueprint" among others, but the biggest tell is that that song and others have room for clean vocals. Now, going back to Deafheaven, who had an entire album that was (almost) all clean vocals, it's not unheard of for this style to take a dream pop approach to clean vocals, but Kim Song Sternkopf is a bit more of a divisive clean vocalist that George Clarke is, but I have to at breathe out a sigh of relief that while their shrieks are nearly identical, at least the cleans sound specific to Møl.
Now if you'll excuse me I'll go listen to
