THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Post Death Soundtrack’s fifth album In All My Nightmares I Am Alone is an eclectic collection of carefully loved bastard children who live in the basement on a diet of scrap.
Having grown up loving albums like Nirvana’s Incesticide and Smashing Pumpkins Pisces Iscariot, Stephen Moore has always had a love for B-sides, outtakes, covers and raw expression. He merely asks himself ‘Is it good?’ Although this album has both brutish expression and beautiful pieces, the themes are difficult to unpack. “This album is in some ways a complete breakdown in audio format,” he says. “I find it beautiful and powerful to express what often is not acknowledged or communicated. I learned that from Kurt Cobain and I’m very proud of this work.”
During the promotion of 2024’s acclaimed Veil Lifter, Moore discovered the bones of a forgotten album, most of which had been recorded between 2009 and 2011. Some are on the experimental industrial and noise side of the sonic realm, while many are acoustic based, a few of which were almost too pretty to be included. There are also new expressions, notably a cover of Tom Waits and his spoken-word opus What’s He Building In There?
Album openers Tremens and Good Time Slow Jam (In All My Nightmares I Am Alone rage with a feral, reckless and wholly uncensored energy. There is disturbing content here as it involves mental-health struggles during crisis. Stylistically, these tracks fit well with artists like Skinny Puppy and Nine Inch Nails. Hypnotizer riffs on Led Zeppelin’s love for Eastern melodies that intertwine with solid hooks. Final Days is full-on punk rock with a rockabilly insanity to it, imagining the end of the world in a slightly comedic way and honoring both Refused and Swing Kids with its vicious energy.
River Man, an earnest cover of Nick Drake‘s subtle classic, is very much a happy accident. Imperfect, yes. Moore recorded this himself in his apartment in 2010 after discovering he loved Drake’s level of sensitivity and knack for communicating dark things through surreal lyricism. This is one of those cases where the performance just works better than a studio take and stands alone as it is. It could be the centerpiece of this release.
Reckless Fever is a reworked acoustic, moody track. Surrender, Start This Over and Oversoul are all acoustic-based, covering different topics ranging from existential yearning to ripping off Leonard Cohen. An Anything is a dark and moody, obscure cover of one of Moore’s life-long friends, Ryan Smith aka My Arm Is An Ocean. God’s Away On Business is another of Moore’s favorite Waits tracks, and is has a new groove, as it would be inappropriate to attempt to impersonate the man.
Bring It Back, Song For Bonzai and Desert Wind close the album with more acoustic expressions. Song For Bonzai is the only instrumental on this LP. Originally titled Song Of Joy, after additional instrumentation and production, it was retitled in tribute to Moore’s beloved black cat, who passed very recently. Desert Wind is another apartment recording, recently mildly treated. It is a very simple song that carries some magic with its presence.
Eclectic, brash, raw, revelatory, mournful and resilient, In All My Nightmares I Am Alone is a singular work when you look closely enough. The same heart, spirit and pain pervade this wide-ranging collection of uncensored chaos, frustration and subtle beauty. This project exists to ring a monolith of alarms where voices were once silent.”
