Life in Dreaming

Features 11 tracks.
With its first full-length album, Hidden in Plain View ups the ante in the emo sweepstakes by delivering a record characterized by snap-tight ensemble playing, gorgeous multi-part vocal harmonies, and deeply heartfelt lyrics. The New Jersey ensemble toured vigorously behind its previous EP, and the members' musical familiarity with each other makes for intricately woven beds of both clean and distorted guitars played over a rhythm section of driving bass and virtuosic, speed-metal-like drumming.
"A Minor Detail" employs a repeating Robert Fripp-esque guitar riff to underscore the frustration suffered by the narrator at the hands of a commitment-phobic partner. "Bleed for You" is a chilling description of rape (reportedly inspired by real-life events) matched to a dissonance-imbued, speedy hardcore sound. An auspicious debut that belies the musicians' relative youth, LIFE IN DREAMING kicks up a guitar-fueled ruckus that's simultaneously cathartic and fascinating.