Layered guitars and gorgeous saxophone complement melodic vocals on “Dreaming of Tennessee,” a fantastic single from Cleveland-based seven-piece Empty Kodiak. Both atmospheric and cathartic, the track’s production exudes a warmness from the get-go — with lush guitar strums and slight blares of saxophone complementing Chaz Stead’s introspective vocal charm. “He’s dreaming of meadows, and fields where the sun goes,” he lets out, adorned by dreamy wordless backing vocals in the later clarity: “He’s dreaming of Tennessee.”
The band describes the track as “written about a dream to move to Nashville to make music, to leave what you know in exchange for greener pastures.” The titular location seems applied as device for dreams, and how they can fall out of reach as life progresses and we look back in wonderment, asking where it went wrong. The finale is also stirring, as the “what’s in a body?” headiness arrives into a last blissful intertwining of guitars, brass, and lovely vocal components. “Dreaming of Tennessee” is a resonating standout from Empty Kodiak.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
