There’s always been something slightly otherworldly about The Dream Machine — a band who treat the Wirral coastline not as a backdrop but as a portal. Their songs feel like dispatches from a parallel seaside town: one where the arcades never close, the fairground lights flicker with supernatural intent, and the ghosts of old jukebox 45s whisper through the salt air.
With Angel Heart, the final single before their third album Fort Perch Rock lands, the band lean fully into that mythology. It’s a track steeped in faded glamour and cinematic unease, channelling the smoky, neon-lit mood of the 1987 film that inspired it. But rather than mimic the movie’s noir grit, The Dream Machine twist it into something distinctly their own — a rush of Farfisa shimmer, radio‑ready guitar lines and a kind of frantic, carnival‑side energy that’s become their signature.
Frontman Zak McDonnell describes writing the song straight after watching the film, but the deeper influence comes from elsewhere: the poetic melancholy of Felt’s Forever Breathes the Lonely Word, a record he admits has been “bleeding through” his subconscious for years. Add in a chance encounter with The Lemon Twigs — and the resulting conversation about chords, structures and ambition — and Angel Heart becomes a kind of creative crossroads, where cult cinema, charity‑shop vinyl and modern alt‑pop collide.
It’s also the last breadcrumb before Fort Perch Rock arrives on 27 February, a record the band self‑produced between Liverpool and the Wirral. The album promises eight unheard tracks and a kaleidoscope of formats, including a limited butterfly‑effect vinyl paired with a glow‑in‑the‑dark 7” of Shirelles covers — a detail so wonderfully Dream Machine it almost feels fictional.
But while the band’s recorded world is rich with imagery and invention, their real‑world momentum is just as striking. Fresh from European dates with Kula Shaker, they’re about to dive into a run of intimate UK in‑stores before a landmark homecoming at Liverpool’s O2 Academy on 27 March. It’s a victory lap that spans charity‑shop nostalgia, continental psych‑rock stages and the kind of grassroots rooms where their songs feel most alive.
If Angel Heart is any indication, Fort Perch Rock won’t just expand The Dream Machine’s universe — it’ll sharpen it. Bigger, stranger, more vivid. A place where voodoo visions, fairground rides and small‑town eccentricities all coexist under the same flickering bulb.
And as ever, they make it sound like home.
Catch The Dream Machine live
Fri 27 February – Ghent, HA Concerts*
Sat 28 February – Hamburg, Gruenspan*
Mon 2 March – Berlin, Heimathafen*
Tue 3 March – Munich, Technikum*
Sun 8 March – Liverpool, Jacaranda
Mon 9 March – Leeds, Crash
Tue 10 March – Bury, Wax and Beans
Wed 11 March – Kingston, Banquet
Mon 16 March – Nottingham, Rough Trade
Tue 17 March – Edinburgh, Assai
Wed 18 March – Glasgow, Assai
Fri 27 March – Liverpool, O2 Academy
*with Kula Shaker
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