The Ultimate Dreamers – Echoing Reverie (Album – Spleen +)
Genre/Influences: Cold-Wave.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Spleen +, a new Belgian label and subdivision of the established electronic label Alfa Matrix, brings a fresh focus on Dark-Wave, Post-Punk, and Minimal-Synth music. Their first signing is the iconic Belgian formation The Ultimate Dreamers, who rose to prominence in the 80s and re-emerged during the Covid-19 era. After releasing an album through Wool-E-Discs (“Live Happily While Waiting For Death”), they now present a new work produced by Len Lemaire (Implant), with a limited vinyl edition released by Wave Tension Records.
Content: Echoing Reverie showcases the band’s signature Dark-Wave style, featuring elements reminiscent of The Cure. One of the most surprising songs is a cover of AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells”. The second part of the album introduces more explicit electronic arrangements, evoking the sound of 1000 Ohm. The final track is a very captivating Electro version/remix of “I Loved You?!” by Implant, reimagined as “Implant Loved You?!”.
Positives: The second half of the album is particularly noteworthy, with standouts such as “Midnight” (a must-listen for The Cure fans) and the Dark/Cold-Wave infused “I Loved You?!”. Though initially hesitant about the Implant cover remix, it ultimately proves to be a fantastic and extended edit perfect for Electro dance floors.
Conclusion: Echoing Reverie is an album of contrasts, with a tentative first half that gives way to a magnificent second half, ultimately delivering a very satisfying listening experience.
Best songs: “Midnight”, “I Loved You?!”, “Implant Loved You?! – Implant Remix”.
Rating: 8½.
Artist: www.the-ultimate-dreamers.com / www.facebook.com/theultimatedreamers
Label: www.facebook.com/spleen.plus Read the news on ‘Echoing Reverie’.
About The Ultimate Dreamers
The Ultimate Dreamers are a Belgian post-punk and cold wave band originating from Lessines in Hainaut province and now based in Brussels. The group first came together as teenagers in the mid-1980s, writing and recording a series of home and rehearsal-room demos between roughly 1986 and 1990 and playing shows in the local scene without releasing a studio album at the time. Those early recordings resurfaced decades later and were compiled as “The Ultimate Dreamers – Live Happily While Waiting For Death“, issued on digital, CD and vinyl formats.
From 2022 onward, The Ultimate Dreamers shifted their centre of operations to Brussels and joined the Spleen+ roster, the post-punk / cold wave division of Alfa Matrix. They released the “Polarized EP” and the two-track single “Polarized / I Loved You?!”, which prepared the ground for their first new studio album “Echoing Reverie” in March 2023. In parallel, the band contributed a cover of The Cure’s “Lovesong” to the Alfa Matrix / Spleen+ compilation “A Strange Play (Vol. 2) – Tribute to The Cure”.
Following “Echoing Reverie”, the group issued the “Violent Ghost” EP with alternative versions and remixes by artists such as Front 242, Shad Shadows and Hørd. In late 2023 they appeared on the seven-disc post-punk anthology “Resurgence”, released as a boxset in January 2025. The singles “Digging” and “Spiritchaser” mapped the route toward their second modern full-length “Paradoxical Sleep” on February 7, 2025.
In 2025, the band released the French-language single “Envoler” and its companion “Envoler-Wegvliegen EP”, before returning to the “Paradoxical Sleep” material with the “Kids Alone” EP at the end of the year. “Echoing Reverie”, reviewed here, remains the album that opened this run of releases on the Spleen+ label.
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