Dreamboy
Dreamboy’s Esther Isabel; photographed by Robert Alfons.
You might already know Montreal’s Esther Isabel as the keyboardist from TR/ST, or by her solo handle Dreamboy where visions cast from experiences and alternate states of consciousness are mixed together as she prepares to follow up her debut Negative Feelings with the Endings EP. Available now via self-release in North America and May 24 on cassette everywhere else in the world via Atelier Ciseaux. Isabel continues her own personal trajectories and narratives where the coldest synths and most atmospheric sequencing highlights the warmest sentiments that are often the hardest to convey.
The Zoe Koke video for Dreamboy’s title track “Endings” captures Esther strolling about from roads, through parks, fields, parking lots, & going for a swim while entertaining inner stream sessions of feelings and thoughts. Notions of time and connections are reflected in ways that observe the departures, arrivals, beginnings, endings, and more. Esther’s utilizes a very sparse approach to electronic-minimalism that allows the atmospheric & breathy arrangements to allow her feelings to shine forth further where the production further underscores the emotive underlying layers that may speak to you when you least expect it.
On the video for “On That Dark Cold Morning” the Dreamboy vision train takes a detour into the nightmare trap zones imagined and realized by Esther & Bryce Cody. Recounting the morning of a breakup, Esther breaks our hearts with the chorus hook of “when you said you loved me, I knew it wasn’t true,” as video images of hunters and trappers scoping out their prey are depicted with the visual overlay of Esther airing the events of an unfortunate morning. The mood is exhibited through very austere synths that murmur and lurk like hounds on the trail of a deer or duck as the unsettling images and the Dreamboy tone runs through some sordid dreamland captured in S-VHS where are our heroine seeks the exit to make her escape. Join us now for our chat with Esther Isabel.
How did Dreamboy first begin, and what for you inspired the name?
Dreamboy as a concept most likely began when I was about seven years old. I was watching Cry Baby by John Waters with my cousins. It was then that I realized what sex was, and Johnny Depp represented sex to me then. He was maybe my first Dreamboy, secondary to Freddie Prince Jr. of course.
From Negative Feelings to Endings—describe your creative narrative thus far, and the feelings & experiences that have informed both of these releases.
Negative Feelings was for the most part a cut and paste sonic experiment. I made it so that I could get into Pop Montreal and make $200 [laughs]. In Montreal, sometimes you have to get creative to make ends meet!
Endings is in every respect the most earnest and sincere collection of songs I have produced thus far. The lyrics and melodies came first, and seemed to flow right through me. Some were even painful to write. It was a very cathartic process and taught me a lot about my strengths and weaknesses as a singer/songwriter.
The dreamy world of Dreamboy; photographed by Sarah Ød.
Can you share any fun/funny anecdotes from touring with TR/ST?
We like to make up fake lyrics to popular radio songs. We made up a whole set of lyrics about peas and gravy to Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. One time, we walked into a gas station in Switzerland and the song was playing. The man behind the cash turned it up really loud for us and we were scream-singing our lyrics about peas and gravy to it and just being weirdos. That’s a fond memory.
Latest and coolest events happening in Montreal right now?
There have been a lot of amazing dance parties put on by some friends of mine. They find the strangest, most unique industrial spaces and throw these all night raves in them and serve yerba maté and fresh pressed juice! They are wicked fun!
Secondly, I work at a restaurant in town called Bethlehem XXX. It’s a conceptual anti-restaurant with it’s regular rotation of characters and drama. I work alongside Montreal’s finest musicians and artists there, and it’s never a dull time. It’s safe to say that whatever happens at Bethlehem, stays at Bethlehem.
What are your top three biggest obsessions right now?
Country music, old fashioned cooking, homesteading.
The new Dreamboy Endings EP is available now via Bandcamp stateside and May 24 on cassette through Atelier Ciseaux.
