Here are my credentials: I’m a HUGE fan of Dreamcatcher, and have been an Insomnia since mid-2021 or so, just after the release of BEcause. They were actually the first concert I’ve ever been to, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for that. They totally gave their all for those two hours and I ended up loving them even more afterward. I’m even considering going again if they have another tour.
Album #2: Apocalypse; Save Us
MAISON is both the beginning of the Apocalypse trilogy and my first Dreamcatcher comeback as an Insomnia (since BEcause came out when I was just becoming a fan and I wasn’t really “aware” of it at the time). Full disclosure, this was the song that made me buy tickets to their concert, and in hindsight, I’m not surprised. Unlike many of DC’s songs, it comes out of the gate swinging. There’s no slow first verse, no ballad to be found, and no way of reading its message as anything other than it is: a vicious criticism of the leaders who stand there doing nothing while climate change ravages the earth (“Oh no, you can’t fool me anymore. It’s weirdly warm, right? The planet, and your conscience drying up”), (“Pretending not to know, you can’t make it disappear”). It ends with only a simple plea: “Please, someone fight for us.” This song remains, to this day, my mom’s favorite Dreamcatcher song. (Hi, mom).
Apocalypse: Save Us is another full album, and has a lot of great songs (some we’ll get more into in a minute). I particularly liked the fun, boppy synths of Starlight, the choppy jazz-meets-alt-rock energy of Locked Inside A Door, and the very sweet Always, which is a song written for fans that they performed near the end of the concert.
Interlude~~The Solos:
Apocalypse: Save Us also contains a solo song for each member, which each of them got to write, and I was lucky enough to see them perform a medley at the concert I attended. First is JiU with the bouncy, retro Cherry, which is a love song written for JiU’s pomeranian Cherry. Yes really. It’s utterly delightful. Second is SuA with the EDM No Dot, which totally fits her role as main dancer because she performs the hell out of it. Third is Siyeon’s traditional Entrancing, which is quite soft and lovely, and makes the best of her excellent vocals.
Fourth is Handong’s quiet Winter, which is a fairly standard k-pop ballad but gives Handong a chance to sing a short a-capella section in her native Mandarin, which, as a linguistics major, I really loved. Fifth is Yoohyeon’s smoothly jazzy love song For, which is the rare k-pop song in English that I don’t mind. Sixth is Dami’s pop-punk Beauty Full, which has some great 2000’s energy and always gets me head-banging. And seventh is Gahyeon’s upbeat and youthful Playground, which is about holding onto childhood. These are all good songs and reflect their own styles well, but my favorite would either have to be Beauty Full or Cherry. I’m a huge fan of artists writing their own tracks so I’m so glad they got to do this!
EP #9: Apocalypse; Follow Us
After that slight digression, next up is Vision, the second song in the Apocalypse series. This one builds on what Maison began, but is resolved to take a far more involved position and not simply wait around for someone else to save them. Instead, Dreamcatcher leads the charge, giving Vision a militaristic feel with its insistent drumline, very present electric guitars, salutes, and flags. It’s a call to action if ever there was one, and features a breaking point just as Scream does, but this time it’s for good. “For your bright tomorrow, and this beautiful place,” JiU announces on the microphone, “For ourselves, give it up tonight! March! Raise your flag and fight again!” And Siyeon’s power note at the end? Excellent.
From Vision’s EP, Follow Us, I liked the synth-pop-meets-chill-rock of Fairytale, which works way better than I thought it would. It’s a sweet love song, and honestly would have made a great single for them if their singles weren’t set on storytelling. It’s very Dreamcatcher while tying that rock to another genre, which is part of the reason why DC’s work always sounds both fresh and true to their core. Some Love is more straightforward rock and EDM, and the Outro is peaceful, steering us into the next song quite well.
EP #10: Apocalypse; From Us
Bon Voyage wraps up the Apocalypse trilogy, and begins in the exact opposite way to Maison. Its first minute sounds like a classic love song, and in a way it is one, to the Earth, but I was left slightly baffled. And then, of course, that pre-chorus takes off and we’re back to classic Dreamcatcher in its excellent guitar riffs and power ballading to the stars. The bridge strikes a middle ground, keeping up the energy as the song barrels to its conclusion in what may be Siyeon’s most incredible high note yet. It may be a love song, but it’s also a promise to keep fighting for the Earth, until the day we have to say goodbye.
From the From Us EP, I had trouble choosing between Propose & Demian. Propose at first seems to be this album’s obligatory ballad, but the background crackles with an odd sound and suddenly pulls away with the “Don’t run away, you can’t escape my love,” and I got flashed back to BEcause’s stalking concept. Propose takes that and runs with it, delivering what can either be read as a creepily obsessive song or a power ballad in the name of love. Demian, meanwhile, is very disjointed, going from a usual Dreamcatcher b-side to Dami’s scream-talk sections, sharper raps, and a full-throated run into metal with a guitar breakdown that they haven’t really reached since No More. (And, as a lover of Break The Wall, I of course appreciated the shout-out.)
Single: Reason
Reason is a special single for DC’s 6th anniversary, and starts out delightfully sappy: “Because of Insomnia, Dreamcatcher exists”. Overlaid on adorable footage of DC’s journey throughout their years in the industry is a song that somehow manages to be both a rock-metal anthem and an incredibly sweet tribute both to each other and their fans. “I will go far away, I spread out my wings to fly, I have to go on…because you are the reason.” No, I’m totally not crying right now. What are you talking about? (Cue me blubbering into a handkerchief).
Ep #11: Versus Villain
I admit I was a little wary when I first saw OOTD’s teasers. And it turns out I was right to worry. The song starts with a good EDM smash and some great vocalizing right away, and its pre-chorus’ build reminds me of Vision. I’m intrigued by its choppier editing and its commentary on the fashion industry. Overall, though I think the song has some great ideas (the nu-metal mixed with hip-hop), it goes far too into sing-talk for me and I don’t like the chorus. Honestly, the most accurate thing I could say is it doesn’t sound like Dreamcatcher. It’s not a bad song, so perhaps it’ll grow on me, but for now…I’m afraid not. I think this is the first track of theirs (in an almost 7-year-career) that I haven’t liked to some level, and as long as the issues I had with it don’t continue into other releases, I’m willing to overlook it, like I did with Birthday by Red Velvet, as a “you can’t win them all”.
Versus Villain, the EP, is thankfully as strong as always. Rising carries that great alt rock energy and DC’s signature encouragement to keep going (“raise your arms up, with all your strength, shout!”), which is always nice to hear. I loved this one from the first chorus, and immediately wondered, why on earth was this not the title, guys? It would’ve been perfect!
Ep #12: Virtuous
Justice is the second part of the series that Dreamcatcher started with OOTD. It begins in a way not dissimilar to BOCA, with these minimalistic tropical influences and building tension. It’s an incredibly welcome to form, from the insistent electric guitars to the cries for justice to the high note that caps off the chorus. Justice also carves out its own space, though, with interesting use of distortion and a few moments when the song pulls back for breath—though never loses strength. It’s a battle cry and a call to action if ever there was one, and I hope I get to see it performed live someday.
From the EP, Virtuous, I enjoyed both the bombastic chorus of Stomp and combination of hip-hop and rock in 2 Rings. Also, shoutout to the intro, 7’ Dreamcatcher, which is both fantastic and the length of a full song, which is something I’ve never seen before.
Verdict (TL;DR):
This may be the most fun I’ve had in my reviews so far! Besides having an excellent discography in just sound alone, they’ve covered trauma, cyberbullying, stalking, climate change, depression, hate speech, love, and hope in under 100 tracks, all while waving pride flags on stage, writing special tracks about loving their dogs, and working their way up in the k-pop world from a tiny company. Their work reminds us all that it’s okay to have bad days but that one day, we will have the strength to accept ourselves, wake up from our nightmares, and start changing the world. And really, what’s more empowering than that?
My Top 5 songs are Break The Wall, What, Deja Vu, Bon Voyage, and Maison, with Wake Up and Fairytale as honorable mentions. Dreamcatcher gets a 10 out of 10 from me, which is no surprise. I can’t really think of anything I would change about what they’ve done, and even though I have my tiny gripes here and there, none of them are enough to make me change my mind. Maybe I’ll be eating my words in a few months, so we’ll see how this ages, but for now I don’t think that there’s any group out there whose work I would rate higher. For now, I’ll end by saying that I’m very proud to be an Insomnia.
Next time, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming with another boy group of the week, this one one that I barely even know, so I’m looking forward to it! Tschüss!
Let me know your thoughts!