Fever Dream opens with the kind of chugging electronic bass and melodic synths that invokes memories of wishing that my life was soundtracked like the movie Drive. The sound here recalls the lo-fi electronics and 80s-production techniques that became popular again with Electroclash, but applies them to big pop hooks to create something accessible yet emotive. The result is little bit Chvrches, a little bit Italians Do It Better.
In contrast to all-out pop music, the slight edge the production lends to Fever Dream conveys a more authentic sense of emotion. I can’t help but feel that polished pop music can feel like it puts a barrier between the listener and the audience — both literally, in terms of the sound, and metaphorically as a result of the process. A song starts with a feeling and an idea. By allowing more time and more hands to interact with that feeling, does it not begin to become diluted?
With Fever Dream, the title track from Nelson’s forthcoming debut EP, it is as though the emotions can sit at the surface… A little like the way the pixels on our phones appear to have got closer to the surface of the glass in recent years. And yet, the production work is not without embellishments — the instrumental bridge only enhances the emotional core of the song before dropping back away to make space for Courtney’s vocal.
Nelson created the song during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as she wrestled with her ambition at a point where, for many, life seemed to slow down. That ambition feels like a direct result of her upbringing, where she was banned from singing at home and ultimately got kicked out aged-17.
Having moved to LA at 22, Courtney pursued a career in modelling and placed fourth in the final of America’s Next Top Model, but ultimately never really got her big break. Then when visiting Australia she got her first experience singing in front of other people, and was hooked. The fact she came to music later in life has shaped her sound:
“Because I don’t have a musical background, everything I have written and everything that comes out musically is just this raw part of me I hid for so long. And, honestly, music is the only thing that makes sense to me.”
That is audibly on display here on Fever Dream. Discussing the song’s creation, Courtney says:
“I wrote this in relation to how I was feeling during the pandemic. I really focused and hustled all of 2020. I put my head down and made sure I worked my heart out because of how much I wanted to be on top of things after the pandemic. This song is about how I want this so bad, to make it in music, but everyone around me just isn’t being serious or motivated. (...) I felt a bit isolated because I don’t have a plan b. I can’t relax because if I’m not 10 steps ahead, there’s someone who will gladly try to be. I didn't get a lot of security and breaks in my upbringing, so I feel like I must work a lot harder sometimes because I’m my own support system, and I’m my own person to fall back on. It was hard being so focused and having people not understand/drift away from me because of it.”
Check out Fever Dream below: