- Few artists prick the ears of outlets as varied as Vogue and Clash Magazine, but 19-year-old Yndi Ferreira, AKA Dream Koala, is currently surfing quite the hype wave. It's not entirely surprising. Ferreira's blend of whispered falsetto and gossamer percussion ticks every chillwave box, even if it feels so weightless it could float off at any moment.
Ferreira tellingly said "I want to have my own genre by mixing all my influences together." It's a laudable aim, but on current evidence he'll have to find a way of moving past references to James Blake, the xx and My Bloody Valentine. "Odyssey," which was inspired by a dream where Ferreira died in a plane crash, has Blake's heartbeat kicks and clouds of MBV static. As a redrawing it nails the aesthetic but it completely lacks these artists' depth.
"Architect" layers guitar through the lightest of blubstep percussion, Ferreira's breathy vocal dipping and soaring like a plastic bag caught in an updraft, while "Ocean" opts for the same staggering drums and finger-picked guitar, bolstering their weepy clout with strings aimed straight at the heartstrings. It's clear that Ferreira is a talented producer with a deft hand for building atmosphere, but as with the dream that inspired it, Odyssey is based on an emotion that never actually happened, an idea of a feeling rather than the real thing.
Tracklist01. Odyssey
02. Architect
03. Ocean feat. Soko