"Dreaming" is a song by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Smallpools
Smallpools is an American indie pop band formed in 2013. The band consists of Sean Scanlon (vocals), Mike Kamerman (guitar), and Beau Kuther (drums).
After their debut single "Dreaming (Smallpools song), Dreaming" charted at number one on The ...
. Smallpools—composed of vocalist Sean Scanlon, guitarist Mike Kamerman, drummer Beau Kuther, and then-bassist Joe Intile—first formed in 2012 in Los Angeles. Their songwriting partnership with L.A.-based production trio
Captain Cuts
Captain Cuts is a songwriting, record production and remix team based in Los Angeles. The trio is composed of Ben Berger, Ryan McMahon and Ryan Rabin (son of Trevor), drummer and producer of the band Grouplove. Collectively they have produced and ...
was responsible for "Dreaming", which was released online in May 2013 as the band's debut single. They had yet to play a live show when they signed a major-label deal with
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
, which began distributing the single. It was later included on the band's self-titled
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. , as well as their debut studio album ''
Lovetap!
''Lovetap!'' (stylized as ''LOVETAP!'') is the debut studio album by Los Angeles indie pop band, Smallpools, released on March 24, 2015. The album was made available for streaming on March 17, 2015 via Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary S ...
'' (2015).
The song received positive responses from contemporary music critics, many of whom compared the song to the music of
Passion Pit. Its
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
, released in July 2013, stars Scanlon experiencing ''
déjà vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...
'' at a house party. "Dreaming" was the band's biggest
hit single
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...
; it charted at number 23 on ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Alternative Songs
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart, and was later certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
.
Background
Guitarist Mike Kamerman and vocalist Sean Scanlon, both
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
natives, had been collaborating since 2007. They moved to Los Angeles in 2011 to further their music career, where they met bassist Joe Intile and drummer Beau Kuther, both from
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. Smallpools was officially formed in August 2012.
They soon began working with L.A.-based production trio
Captain Cuts
Captain Cuts is a songwriting, record production and remix team based in Los Angeles. The trio is composed of Ben Berger, Ryan McMahon and Ryan Rabin (son of Trevor), drummer and producer of the band Grouplove. Collectively they have produced and ...
, with whom they wrote and recorded "Dreaming". Manager Greg Federspiel's dog, Jax, graces the cover art of the "Dreaming" single; it was a random photo Scanlon had taken on his phone and decided to use for it.
The band's songwriting process at the time began with an idea of a melody or
guitar lick
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
played over a common
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
; from there, the quartet would "
jam
Jam is a type of fruit preserve.
Jam or Jammed may also refer to:
Other common meanings
* A firearm malfunction
* Block signals
** Radio jamming
** Radar jamming and deception
** Mobile phone jammer
** Echolocation jamming
Arts and entertai ...
it out" for hours in their rehearsal space. After solidifying more ideas, they would bring songs to their producers to determine what parts worked and what areas needed more development. Scanlon was responsible for the majority of the lyrics.
Their relationship with Captain Cuts was open and communicative; "We feel like we have this good creative energy going right now – the vibe in the studio with
aptain Cutsis really good," Scanlon told ''
Vibe
''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down productio ...
'' in 2013.
The band released a self-titled four-song
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. on July 16, 2013, featuring "Dreaming". The song was also later included on the band's 2015 debut album, ''
Lovetap!
''Lovetap!'' (stylized as ''LOVETAP!'') is the debut studio album by Los Angeles indie pop band, Smallpools, released on March 24, 2015. The album was made available for streaming on March 17, 2015 via Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary S ...
''. The song was later used on the soundtrack for the
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
''
FIFA 14
''FIFA 14'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released in September 2013 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStati ...
'', as well as in ''
The Vampire Diaries
''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the The Vampire Diaries (novel series), book series ...
'' episode "
I Know What You Did Last Summer
''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Jim Gillespie, written by Kevin Williamson, and starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. It is loosely based on ...
".
Music video
The official
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for "Dreaming" debuted online on
Vevo
Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...
on July 16, 2013. The video stars Scanlon
repeating the same evening at a house party over and over again. Scanlon continues to repeat the activities—playing
beer pong
Beer pong, also known as Beirut, is a drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in a cup of beer on the other end. The game typically consists of opposing teams of two or more player ...
, socializing—before coming up for air in the backyard pool and realizing
it was all a dream.
It was a shot at a home in the
Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles that the band rented. The group invited all of their personal friends to act in the video; Kamerman joked the "fake party" developed into a real one.
Reception
"Dreaming" debuted on May 16, 2013 on the blog of label
Neon Gold Records
Neon Gold Records is a New York City-based boutique record label founded in 2008 by Derek Davies and Lizzy Plapinger.
Initially operating as a vinyl-only singles label, Neon Gold has launched the debut releases and international careers of ma ...
, which also handled single releases from
Passion Pit and
Sir Sly
Sir Sly is an American indie rock band formed and based in Orange County, California, United States. The band is fronted by vocalist Landon Jacobs with instrumentalists Jason Suwito and Hayden Coplen accompanying him. The trio gradually built a ...
. Within three days of its release, it hit number one on the
Hype Machine
Hype Machine is a music blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin.
History
Hype Machine was originally a music database created in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin, then a sophomore computer science major at Hunter College.Heilemann, JohCapturing the ...
, a
music blog
An MP3 blog is a type of blog in which the creator makes music files, normally in the MP3 format, available for download. They are also known as musicblogs, audioblogs or soundblogs (the latter two can also mean podcasts). MP3 blogs have become ...
aggregator. The first radio station to play the track was
KTCL
KTCL (93.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an alternative rock format targeting the Denver metro area. Its studios are located alongside iHeartMedia's other Denver stations at 4695 ...
in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, after its staff discovered it on the Hype Machine. The band's manager, Greg Federspiel, assisted them in signing a deal with major label RCA Records. The band had been together formally for less than a year before the success of "Dreaming",
and had yet to perform live.
It quickly gained airplay on alternative radio stations in the U.S., first charting on ''Billboard''
Alternative Songs
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart in the issue dated June 29, 2013. Seven weeks later, the song achieved its peak position of number 23. They went on tour after the release of their first EP, and opened for
Walk the Moon
Walk the Moon (stylized as WALK THE MOON) is an American Rock music, rock band based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca started the band in 2006, while a student at Kenyon College, deriving the band's name from the song "Walki ...
and
Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots (stylized in Letter case, all lowercase or as twenty øne piløts) are an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris ...
.
The song was well-received by contemporary music critics.
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
reviewer Matt Collar praised "Scanlon's soaring tenor vocals," as well as "the group's potent combination of shimmering
Dayglo
The Day-Glo Color Corp. (also styled as DayGlo) is a privately held American paint and pigments manufacturer based in Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1946 by brothers Joseph and Bob Switzer, Robert Switzer and is currently owned by ...
synths, crisp guitar licks, and propulsive dancefloor beats."
It was frequently compared to the music of Passion Pit.
Chris Payne at ''Billboard'' wrote that "Smallpools' opening statement sounds like it was written to be one of alternative radio's songs of the summer, with its exuberant, helium-voiced Passion Pit vocal riffage; sparkling,
hi-fi production; and young-and-invincible 'tude."
The group hoped to counter these comparisons with the release of their debut EP. "We are very eager to put out this collection of songs, because "Dreaming" has since been mistaken for Passion Pit or
MGMT
MGMT () is an American indie rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists of ...
or
Foster the People
Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. Its members are singer Mark Foster, guitarist Sean Cimino, and keyboardist Isom Innis.
Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in ...
, which we're all fans of," said Kamerman.
The single was certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
in 2018, which denotes 500,000 sales or streams.
Certifications
References
External links
Official videoon
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
{{authority control
2013 singles
2013 songs
RCA Records singles
Songs written by Ben Berger
Songs written by Ryan McMahon (record producer)