Music Review // Tean Dream "Shine"

  Tean Dream has released an EP called "Shine" which will have your head bopping along at first and the more times you listen, you will begin to sing along with these songs as well.  If you've been paying attention to the single releases leading up to this EP, you'll already be familiar with "Radio", which starts things off in the best possible way.  It's this piano jazz type of song that's just so upbeat and pleasant- about dancing to the radio- that really sets the tone for the rest of the EP.

"Roll on By" can feel like it's taking time to stop and appreciate life, as the line "I just wanna stop and look out my window" is heard with the starts and stops of horns like traffic and those birds are chirping.  Bongos come into play with that song as well and then we go into "Frozen Lakes", a piano-fueled pop ballad which you should also already know.   Big pianos also come into play on "In This City" while the percussion seems to be the star on "Feels Right".   "Wish You Knew" closes out the EP in a very piano-based ballad.

One thing I do notice about this EP is that it moves at a steady pace but also can feel like it's slowing down as it goes on.  Though it might not be completely accurate to say, it does also feel that the first song- "Radio"- has the most amount of different instruments within it and as the EP goes on, each song seems like it loses some elements to where it just feels more stripped down and minimal by the end.  That feeling of coffee house jazz on "Radio" doesn't really stay throughout, as we just get into this lighter pop sound as "Shine" goes on.

While there are definitely songs on here that could be on the radio, I think any of them could really be songs you put in your playlist.  There is something about this EP which just feels so familiar and comfortable while listening to it.   The element of pop is here, but it is not overly done.  Sometimes you listen to a song and halfway through you can catch on with the chorus.  For Tean Dream it's more of a getting stuck in your head pop quality, where you'll hear these songs and come back to them enough times until you can sing along.