Pillars and wings of Neon Dreams, Frank Kadillac and Adrian Morris have been making music together under that moniker since 2015, but it was only last year that they reached a turning point.
Having garnered tens of millions of streams, won numerous Canadian awards with their 2016 golden single ‘Marching Bands’, and gone through a radical sound refactoring that led to the cancellation of an entire album, in 2019 the duo released ‘Sweet Dreams Till Sunbeams’ – a release that includes nine edifying songs about not fitting in and overcoming adversity – and continued to release new material this year, covering subjects from Kadillac’s painful youth to his mother’s battle against cancer.
“I have stories to tell from a place of love to other people who are like me,” says Kadillac. “My main goal has been to reach as many people as I can and spread positive energy. I feel I have to get the message across to people like me, because I don’t know anyone else who’s doing it.” Certainly referable to the alt-pop basin, the music by Neon Dreams presents itself with a rich diversified mix, being able to include rock lashes to pop sensitivity, sometimes inserting hints of hip-hop with Kadillac’s rap, up to incorporate elements of EDM and reggae into their sound.
“I want to be the soundtrack to the next generation,” Kadillac proclaims. “I’m not writing for a bunch of cool kids. I’m writing for the kid sitting in the hallway eating lunch; the kid that has the perfect family but just doesn’t fit into it; the people who feel out of place.” And it is in the realm of this creative richness that the latest work from the Halifax alt-pop duo Neon Dreams lights up in all its energizing freshness. ‘Sick of Feeling Useless’ is an edifying hymn, chorally relatable, about how easy it is to feel powerless, especially in these modern times. And how, let’s face it, we are all tired of this!
Praised even for its 90’s/2000’s MTV/TRL era aesthetics, the release of ‘Sick of Feeling Useless’ is accompanied by an official video posted on release day on Reddit, becoming the #1 HOT and upvoted video on r/TopTalent with nearly 15,000 upvotes. The visual is a creative combination of 2,474 images, forming a stop motion visual that sees Kadillac and drummer Adrian Morris performing their new release.
As Kadillac recounts: “before the song was made, we were discussing with our good friend and collaborator Nathaniel Motte from the band 3OH3! about how it’s easy to feel helpless…like nothing we do matters that much. Then Nat said «ya know…I think everyone is just sick of feeling useless.» It hit so hard with me because I felt that way my whole life growing up, I felt useless until I broke out of my shell.”
Through its nostalgic tones this modern production conveys a powerful message and literally gives voice to the inhabitants of the island of social recluses, of those who live in constant search for a place to belong to, and even instills a sense of self-criticism into those who relate to others aggressively, socially and beyond.
Listen now to ‘Sick of Feeling Useless’, the latest single from Neon Dreams, available for streaming on all the major digital platforms.
To know more about Neon Dreams and their music, find and follow them all over the web, by checking the links below: