“Back in the days before the Great Plague (2018 to be exact), I stumbled upon a quirky underground act called Vanishing Kids and their Heavy Dreamer album. Hailing from Wisconsin, they billed themselves as “somnambulic doom,” which intrigued me but didn’t really do justice to their unique sound and style. They play a slick mash-up 70s acid/psychedelic rock with 80s goth rock, ethereal wave, and yes, some random bits of doom sprinkled in. The end product is haunting, dreamy, and entirely gripping, full of moodscapes that envelope you like a heavy fog. I still play Heavy Dreamer regularly and there’s just something special about the album that sticks in my head and heart. As the world hid away from 2020 to 2022, Vanishing Kids used the isolation to work on the follow-up, and after 5 years we get the appropriately titled Miracle of Death.” The Kids are alright.
