dream bitch (n): one who is not nice to you (esp. to the point of revealing to you all of your personal flaws and deepest insecurities, "telling you off") in your dreams, regardless of the nature of your real-life relationship. Most often a close friend or lover.

 

dream bitches (pl. n): Yoko Kikuchi and Ann Zakaluk (oftentimes with an extended family) tinker with the boundaries of what it means to be friends, take trips, have boyfriends and lead parallel lives, while dreaming up a landscape of densely crafted lyrics, rock guitars, and smart harmonies.

 

Coke-and-Spiriters, the second album from New York's Dream Bitches, is a combustive culmination of the band's first five years making music together. Packed with snarling pop anthems and hyper-literate acoustic ballads, this concise collection captures the Bitches at their most vibrant and volatile.

Yoko Kikuchi and Ann Zakaluk, friends and collaborators since their New York City tween years, began the group as a duo in 2003, each fresh out of art school. By the time their first album, Sanfransisters, was released by Olive Juice Music in early 2005, Yoko and Ann had recruited a backing band that would become an integral part of their sound and style. A playful folk-pop affair, Sanfransisters boasted jangly guitars, catchy choruses, and wry lyrics in the wordy tradition of antifolkies Kimya Dawson (K) and Jeffrey Lewis (Rough Trade).

Dream Bitches' sophomore release finds the now five-piece band sporting songs with bigger hooks and biting, schizophrenic subject matter. Where Sanfransisters celebrated friendship, the relationships chronicled on Coke-and-Spiriters are beyond dysfunctional; lyricist Kikuchi's narrators come out swinging on songs like "Bad Luck Bill" and "Maniacal Mechanic," and even sweet couplets like "You're as perfect as I want it / You're as pretty as they come" are spat out like death threats.

Despite the misanthropic lyrics, the music is far from introverted. Dream Bitches' sound has expanded tremendously since their last record—it's bigger, brighter, and bolder than before, a kind of brainy power pop that evokes forebears like the Breeders and contemporaries like Tegan & Sara. Kikuchi and Zakaluk's vocal melodies stagger and intertwine, and their intricate harmonies make every chorus soar.

Coke-and-Spiriters was recorded by Mark Ospovat at Emandee Studios (CocoRosie, Wooden Wand) in Brooklyn, NY, and produced by Casey Holford (Cheese on Bread, Daouets). It will be released on New York's Recommended If You Like Records on May 20th, 2008, after which the band will play select dates throughout the United States.

 

Thanks to Daoud, Dan, Casey, and Chris for their help.